E 

459 


535 


CD 

O 
CD 
CM 

O 


INDEX 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  (1787)  Was  a  Compact 

Between  Sovereign  States  and  Not  Perpetual 

Nor  National. 

AUTHORITY : 

Page 

Elliott's  Debates,  Vol.   V,   p.   214 1 

Daniel  Webster,  "The  Federalist,"  p.  908 

Daniel  Webster,  Capon  Springs  Speech,  1851_. 1 

Daniel  Webster,  U.  S.  Senate;  Feb.  15,  3,'833 _1 1,  2 

Henry  Cabot  Lodge   1 1 

Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  Vol.  III.,  p.  287 2 

Alexander   Hamilton,    Commentaries   on    the    Constitution, 

Vol.  III.,  p.  287 2 

James  Wilson,  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  Vol.  III., 

p.  287  2 

Gouveneur  Morris,  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  Vol. 

III.,  p.  287 2 

Roger   Sherman,    Commentaries   on   the    Constitution,   Vol. 

III.,  p.  287 2 

Oliver  Ellsworth,   Commentaries  on  the   Constitution,   Vol. 

III.,  p.  287  2 

Alexander  Hamilton,  "The  Federalist,"  LX 2 

Benjamin  Franklin,  "Franklin's  Works" _•  2 

Judge  Story,  Vol.  V.,  p.  409 2 

George  Bancroft,  "History  of  the  United  States" 2,  3 

James  Buchanan,  "Messages  and  State  Papers'' 2 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  "Constitutional  Ethics  of  Secession''  2 

William  Rawle  1 -  .  .{£ 

Lord  Brougham   3 

II. 

Secession  Was  Not  Rebellion. 
AUTHORITY: 

Dr.  Henry  Wade  Rogers,  Dean  of  the  Law  Department  of 

Yale 3 

William    Rawle,    Author    "View    of    the    Constitution,'' 

pp.  289,  290 , ._  3 

Wm.  Brooks  Rawle,  "Sectional  Misunderstandings,"  p.  9 3 

Benjamin  T.  Wade,  U.  S.  Senate,  1858 _„_  4 

Groldwin  Smith,  Historian,  Cornell  University 4 

Jeremiah  Black  of  Pennsylvania,  "Black's  Essays" 4 

Horace  Greeley,  "American  Conflict,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  35^ 4 

Horace  Greeley,  "New  York  Tribune" 4 

1 

416816 


Page 

Abraham  Lincoln 4 

Benjamin  J.  Williams,  "Died  For  Their  State" ..__  5 

Hallam's   "Constitutional  History   of   England/'   Vol.    TT, 

p.  219 5 

George  Lunt,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 5 

Abraham   Lincoln,    Appendix^  ito    "Congressional    Globe," 

p.  94 5 

C.  W.  Cottom,  Letter  to  Howell  Cobb,  Secretary  Treasury, 

1860 5 

George  Lunt,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 5 

Edward  Everett,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 5 

Horace  Greeley,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 5 

Edward  Everett  Hale,  "Life  of  Wm.  Seward" 5 

Charles  Beecher  Stowe 6 

Republican  Platform,   I860   

Timothy  Pickering,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 6 

Josiah  Quincy,  "Origin  of  Late  War'' 6 

John  Quincy  Adams,  "Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr." _  6 

"New  York  Herald,"  Nov.  11,  1860 -— j6 

George  Lunt   T 

Chief  Justice  Day 7 

III. 

The  North  Was  Responsible  for  the  War  Between  the  States. 
AUTHORITY: 


"New  York  Herald,"  April  7,  1861 7 

"New  York  Herald,"  April  5,  1861 7 

Abraham  Lincoln,  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  by  Sheppard 7 

Horton's  "Youth's  History,"  pp.  71,  72,  109 8 

Gideon  Welles,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 8 

William  Seward,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 8,  9 

Stephen  Douglas,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 8 

Zach  Chandler,  Letter  to  Governor  Blair 8 

Cousin  &  Hill,  p.  371 8 

General  Bragg,  0.  R.  I.,  p.  457 

Joseph    Lane    of    Oregon,    U.    S.    Senate,    "Congressional 

Globe,"  36th  Congress,  p.  1347 10.  12 

John  Codman  Ropes,  "Story  of  Civil  War,"  pp.  17,  18_  JO,  11 
Wendell  Phillips,  Speeches  in  1861 11 

George  Lunt,  "Origin  of  Late  War,"  p.485 12 

Percy  Gregg's  "History,"  p.  158 -11,  12 

President  Buchanan 12 

Congressional   Records    -    13 

Hosmer's  "History  of  the  American  Nation,"  Vol.   XX.. 
p.  20  _ 8 

J.  G.  Holland,  "Life  of  Lincoln" 9 

2 


Page 

Medill,    "Chicago    Tribune'' 9 

Tarbell's  "Life  of  Lincoln/'  Vol.  II.,  p.  144 9 

"The  New  York  Express/'  April  15,  1861 9 

"The  Opening  of  the  Twentieth  Century" 10 

Hallam's  "Constitutional  History  of  England" 10 

Benjamin  Williams  of  Lowell,  Mass 10 

IV. 

The  War  Between  the  States  Was  Not  Fought  to  Hold  the 

Slaves. 

AUTHORITY: 

Congress,  in  1861 13 

Abraham  Lincoln,   "Inaugural  Address" 13 

George  Lunt,  "Origin  of  Late  War" 13 

"Grant  a  Slaveholder/'  Speaker's  "Handbook/'  p.  33_.  ..  13 

Simon  Cameron,  Letter  to  General  Butler 14 

Governor  William  Sprague  of  Rhode  Island ._  14 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  73 .  14 

Percy  Gregg,  English  Historian 14 

Channing's  "Short  History  of  the  United  States" 14 

"Origin  of  the  Late  War/'  Introduction,  Lunt 15 

Salmon  P.  Chase,  Secretary  of  War  under  Lincoln __,  15 

V. 

The  Slaves  Were  Not  Ill-Treated  in  the  South  and  the  North 
Was  Largely  Responsible  for  Their  Presence  in  the  South. 

AUTHORITY: 

William  Makepeace  Thackeray,  "Roundabout  Papers" 15 

Charles  E.  Stowe,  Address  at  Fiske  College,  Nashville,  Tenn.  16 
Major-General  Quitman  of  New  York,  Appendix  "Origin 

of  Late  War/'  p.  465 15,  93 

J.  P.  Schaffner,  "War  of  Secession  in  America" _  15 

Pennsylvania  Lawyer   16 

"American  Authors/'  p.  492 16 

Lunt's  "Origin  of  the  Late  War" .  93 

VI. 
Coercion  Was  Not  Constitutional. 

AUTHORITY: 

William  Seward,  Letter  to  "London  Times" 19 

William  Seward,  Letter  to  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Sr 19 

Edward  Everett 19 

3 


Page 
President  James  Buchanan,  Letter  to  Edwin  M.   Stanton, 

Secretary  of  War 

Charles  Sunnier  

"Journal  of  Commerce,"  1861 

James  S.  Thayer,  Jan.  21,  1861 19 

Charles  Beecher  Stowe 

James  Buchanan,  "Messages  of  Presidents,"  Dec.  3,  I860-    20 
Abraham  Lincoln,  George  Lunt's  "History''. 

American  Statesmen  Series,  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  Vol.  II 20 

Platform  of  the  Eepublican  Party,  1860 20 

"New  York  Herald" - 19 

Carpenter's  "Logic  of  History,"  p.  50__ 

Horace  Greeley,  "American  Conflict,"  p.  513 20 

Ex-Governor  Reynolds  of  Illinois,  Dec.  28,  1860 — ..    21 

VII. 

The  Federal  Government  Was  Responsible  for  the  Anderson- 

ville  Horrors. 

AUTHORITY: 

Charles  A.  Dana,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War 21 

General  Benjamin  Butler,  "Butler's  Book" 21 

General  U.  S.  Grant,  "Butler's  Book" 21 

Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War 60 

Official  Records,  "War  of  the  Rebellion" 

Series  2,  Vols.  IV.,  V.,  VIII 21,  22 

Series  3,  Vol.  V. 

Page-Haley,  "The  True  Story  of  Andersonville  Prison"-..  25 

Judge  Shea,  "The  New  York  Tribune,"  Jan.  24,  1876 23 

Horace  Greeley,  "New  York  Tribune,"  Nov.  9,  1866 24 

Chas.  A.  Dana,  "New  York  Sun" 23,  24 

Dr.  E.  A.  Flewellen,  Surgeon  at  Andersonville 25 

Herman  A.  Braum,  Prisoner  at  Andersonville 26 

Dr.  Gardner,  "Medicine  Contraband  of  War" 22 

General  Butler  23 

Dr.  Kerr,  in  New  Orleans 24 

Butler's  Book  26 

VIII. 

The  Republican  Party  That  Elected  Abraham  Lincoln  Was  Not 
Friendly  to  the  South. 

AUTHORITY : 

Wendell  Phillips,  "Speeches  and  Papers" 27 

Charles  Beecher   Stowe   .  28 


Page 

R.    G.   Horton,   "A   Youth's  History  of   the   Civil   War," 
p.  51,  Vol.  IV 28,  29 

George  Lunt's  "Origin  of  Late  War,"  p.  359 28,  29 

Benjamin  Wade,  U.  S.  Senate,  1860 28 

Judge  William  Duer,   1860 28 

Raymond,  in  "New  York  Times'' ...    29 

"Boston  Courier,"  May  26,  1860 29 

Judge  Jessup,  Lunt's  "History" 29 

Stephen  Douglas,  Letters  to  Mr.  Hayes 29 

Stephen  Douglas,  Dec.  27,  1860- 29 

Stephen  Douglas,  Feb.  2,  1861 29 

"Cincinnati  Enquirer"   29 

IX. 
The  South  Desired  Peace  and  Made  Every  Effort  to  Obtain  It. 

AUTHORITY: 

Shaffner's  "Secession  War,"  London 30 

Lord  Charnwood's  '"Life  of  Lincoln" (_30.  33 

Senator   Chandler   of   Michigan ' 30 

George  Lunt's  "Origin  of  Late  War" 32 

"Congressional  Globe,"  Appendix  1800- '61 30 

Dixon  of  Connecticut,  p.  41 , 32 

"Congressional  Globe/'  Dec.  11,  1860 31 

Salmon  P.  Chase,  Peace  Conference,  Washington,  D.  C ._  33 

Abraham  Lincoln,  "Messages  of  Presidents" ._  34 

Nicolay  &  Hay,  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  Vol.  X 34 

Seward's  Letter  to  Charles  Francis  Adams 34 

"War  of  Rebellion,"  Series  III.,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  1163,  1164__  34 

"New   York   Times" 34 

X. 

The  Policy  of  the  Northern  Army  Was  to  Destroy  Property — 
That  of  the  Southern  Army  to  Protect  It. 

AUTHORITY: 

Sheridan's   Official  Report    34 

Sherman's  "Memoirs"  34,  37 

Lord  Palmerson,  British  House  of  Commons -    35 

General  B.  Butler,  New  Orleans  Order  No.  28 35 

General   Grant's   Official   Orders 35 

James  W.   Forsyth,   Sheridan's  Chief -of-Staff 36 

W.  H.  Halleck,  Chief-of-Staff  of  General  Grant 36 

W.  T.  Sherman,  Major-General  to  General  Halleck 36 

Percy    Gregg's   "History" '..    37 

"The  Story  of  a  Great  March/'  Nichols 36,  37 


CONTRAST : 

Page 

President  Jefferson  Davis -37,  38 

General  R.  E.  Lee -37,  38 

General  J.  B.  Early,  York,  Pa.__ 

Chas.  Francis  Adams.  Jr 

General  John  B.  Gordon,  York,  Pa.__ 
Rules  at  West  Point 

XL 

The  South  Has  Never  Had  Her  Rightful  Place  in  Literature. 

AUTHORITY : 

Harrriet  Martineau 

Hamilton  W.   Mabie 

"The  Outlook,"  1899 40 

John  Fiske,  "History  of  the  United  States" 40 

Pancoast  of  Philadelphia —  __39.  41 

Victor  Hugo 

"London  Quarterly  Review"  41 

Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge 41 

Alfred   Tennyson    41 

Henry  W.  Longfellow 

Abernathy  's  ' '  American  Literature  " 41 

Brander  Matthews 41 

Lewishon    41 

"The  Nen'  International  Encyclopedia" 42 

"The   Columbia  Encyclopedia" -  42 


XII. 

The  North  Violated  the  Constitution  and  Refused  to  Stand  By 

the  Decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  This  Drove 

the  South  to  Secession. 

AUTHORITY : 

United  States  Constitution   .  42,  43 

Percy  Gregg,  English  Historian  (Missouri  Compromise) 43 

George  Lunt,  "Origin  of  Late  War,"  p.  261 43 

Josiah  Quincy,  "Political  Textbook,"  p.  108 ,  .  43 

Peters'   "Reports,"   p.   611 44 

Judge  Story  of  the  Supreme  Court 44 

Carey,  Elliott,  Kettel,  Political  Economists,  on  "Tariff  Acts"  44 
Prof.   Elliott,   Harvard   College    (See  Bledsoe's  "War  Be- 

tiveen  the  States,"  p.  225) 44 

"Southern  Wealth  and  Northern  Profits" 45 

Chief  Justice  Story  (Fugitive  Slave  Law) 45 

Abraham  Lincoln,  Speech  at  Peoria,  111.,  1854 45 

6 


Page 

Judge  Black,  "Black's  Essays/'  p.  163__  45 
"Congressional    Records/'    William    Penn    and    Benjamin 

Franklin - 46 

Bledsoe's  "War  Between  the  States" 45 

Reports  of  United  States  Supreme  Court 46 

Congress,  July  23,  1861 46 

"Congressional  Reports/'  July  23,  1861 46 

McClure  on  Abraham  Lincoln 47 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  213 47 

Chief   Justice    Chase 47 

A.braham  Lincoln,   "Inaugural  Address" 47 

Horton's  "Youth's  History  of  the  Civil  War/'  p.  51 47 

Judge    Black    of    Pennsylvania,    "Black's    Essays"    (Mrs. 

Surratt)    '_ 48 

Barnes'  "Popular  History/'  p.  597 ..  48 

Louis  Schade,  Attorney  for  Henry  Wirz 49 

"The  True  Story  of  Andersonville/'  Page-Haley _..  48 

Horton  on  XIV.  and  XV.  Amendments 47,  51 

"The  Chicago  Chronicle" _ 51 

John  Fremont,  "Freedom  of  the  Press" 52 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Vol.  III.,  p.  232  (Freedom  of  Speech)  47 

George  Bancroft 47 

"Life  of  Seward/'  Vol.  II,  p.  254 47 

"Decisions  of  Supreme  Court/'  Chas.  Francis  Adams,  Jr._  .  52 
J.  Gr.  Holland,  "Decisions  of  Supreme  Court/'  "Life  of  Lin 
coln/'  p.   284   52 

"Constitutional  View  of  the  South'' 51 

Barnes'  "Popular  History"  (Supreme  Court),  p.  476 48.  52 

Abraham  Lincoln,   Cooper  Institute  Speech .  53 

"The  Construction  Construed,  Von  Hoist   (Squatter  Sover 
eignty)    53 

Report  from  Charleston  Convention,  1860 52 

The  Trent  Affair,  "Life  of  Seward" 53 

Abraham  Lincoln,  Albany,  N.  Y 48 

XIII. 

Jefferson  Davis  Must  Have  His  Rightful  Place  in  History. 
AUTHORITY: 

Records  of  War  Department,  Washington,  D  .C 53 

Tribute  from  a  Mexican  War  Veteran 56 

"Farewell  Address"  to  Senate,  1861 56 

Speech  at  Fanueil  Hall,  Boston,  1861 56 

Chief  Justice  Chase  of  Supreme  Court,  U.  S 56 

James  E.  Titlow,  who  manacled  him 57 

"The  New  York  World" 57 

"The  New   York   Sun"..  57 


Page 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr 57 

Dr.  Craven,  Prison  Physician 57 

Ridpath's  "History" 57 

E wing's  "Northern  Rebellion  Against  the  Constitution"  55 

"Congressional  Records" 56 

Chief  Justice  Chase 58 

Rawle's  "View  of  the  Constitution"         56 

Charles  O'Connor,  Davis'  Attorney 59 

Horton's  "Youth's  Hitsory  of  the  Civil  War" __..  .  60 

"Republic  of  Republics,"  p.  44 59 

Dr.  Bacon  of  Assouet,  Mass 59 

"North  American  Review/'  September,  1904 59 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr 59 

R.  G.  Horton's  "Youth's  History  of  the  Civil  War."  p.  384  59 

J.  G.  Elaine,  U.  S.  Congress,  1876 60 

Judge  Shea's  Report 60 

Russell's  "Diary,"  p.  163 61 

Secretary  Stanton's  Statistics 60 

"New  Haven  Register" 61 

XIV, 

Abraham  Lincoln  Must  Have  His  Rightful  Place  in  History. 
AUTHORITY : 

"Abraham  Lincoln,"  Nicolay  &  Hay,  Vol.  I.,  p.  186 65 

George  Lunt,  "Origin  of  Late  War,"  p.  435 65 

Godwin,  "The  Nation" 66 

Thaddeus  Stevens 66 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  123 _...._  63 

Wendell  Phillips,  Cooper  Institute,  1864 66 

Percy  Gregg,    (English  Historian)    66 

Chief  Justice  Supreme  Court 66 

Lieut.-Col.  Ludlow,  Letter  to  Col.  Ould,  July  26,  1863 67 

McClure    66,  67 

"Life  and  Times  of  Hannibal  Hamlin,"  p.  393 .  67 

George  Bancroft,  "Life  of  Seward,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  254 67 

Boutwell,   Congressman  from  Massachusetts 67 

"On  Circuit  With  Lincoln,"  p.  634 67 

Ida  Tarbell's  "Life  of  Lincoln" 67 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  320 67 

Lamon's  "Life  of  Lincoln" 67 

Richard  Dana,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War 67 

Benjamin  R.  Curtis,  Supreme  Court 67 

John  A.  Logan,  "Great  Conspiracy,"  p.  551 68 

"McClure's  Magazine,"  January,  1893 69 

Ida  Tarbell's  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  p.  165 68 

B.  F.  Butler's  Book 68 

8 


Page 

Morse's   "American   Statesmen" 69 

Richard  A.  Dana,  Letters  to  Thomas  Lathrop,  Feb.  23,  1863  69 

Herndon's  "Life  of  Lincoln"—- 70 

Lamon's  "Life  of  Lincoln" 70 

Hapgood's  "Abraham  Lincoln,   the  Man  of  the  People," 

p.  273  69,  70 

Wendell   Phillips   69 

E.  C.  Ingersoll 70 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 70 

Allen  Thorndike  Rice,  "Reminiscences  of  Lincoln,"  p.  14__  70 

"Congressional  Records" 70 

George  Lunt 70 

Lincoln's  "Inaugural  Address" 70 

Butler's  Book 70 

Lincoln's  Letter  to  Alexander  Stephens ._  71 

Emancipation  Proclamation 71 

Lincoln,  Speech,  Charleston,  111.,  1858 70,  71 

David  Saville  Muzzey's  " American  History,"  p.  486 73 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  64 72,  74 

Lincoln,  Peoria,  111.,  1854 71,  72 

Morse's  "Abraham  Lincoln,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  102 74 

Carpenter 74 

Barnes'  "Popular  History,"  Chap.  XV 75 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  344 75 

Chesterton,   "English  History"^ I 75 

Lincoln,  Letter  to  Hamlin,  Sept.  28,  1863 76 

Wendell  Phillips 75;  76 

Second  Writing  Emancipation  Act 76 

George  Lunt 74 

Guerber 75 

Abraham  Lincoln,  "Messages  and  Papers" 75 

Herndon  &  Weik's  "True  Story  of  a  Great  Life" 78,  82 

Schouler's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  VI.,  p.  21  __  77 

"McClure's  Magazine" 75 

Horace  Greeley,   p.   274 77 

Don  Piatt's  "Reminiscences;"  p.  21 77 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr .__  77 

Preface  to  "The  True  Story  of  a  Great  Life,"  Herndon 

and  Weik 78 

Nicolay  &  Hay 76 

Lamon's  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  p.  173 78 

Gettysburg   Address    78 

Abraham  Lincoln 79 

Lamon's  "Recollections"   77,  78,  79 

Nicolay   79,  80 

Willam   Seward    79 

Edward  Everett  _                                                                     .  78 


Page 

W.  H.  Cunningham,  Reporter  for  "The  Star" 81 

"Abraham  Lincoln's  Book/'  Herndon  &  Lamon 83 

Dennis  Hanks   (Herndon)    _1 

Mrs.  Lincoln,  Stepmother  (Herndon) 83 

Jesse  E.  Fall  (Herndon)   83 

Bradley 's  "Orations  and  Arguments/'  p.  227,  par.  5 80 

J.  G.  Holland,  "Life  of  Lincoln" 84.  85 

Ida  Tarbell's  "Life  of  Lincoln" 84 

Nicolay  &  Hay's  "Life  of  Lincoln" 84 

William  M.  Davison 85 

Albert  Bushnell  Hart 84 

"Sunday  School  Times" 84 

P.  D.  Ross,  Englishman;  "Harper's  Weekly,"  Nov.  \,  1908  84 

"St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat"   78 

Henry  E.  Shepherd —  81 

Judd   Stewart   84 

Don   Piatt    84 

Stanton 85 

John   Hay   85 

J.  B.  Wade 85 

Walter  McElreath  86 

Jas.   A.   Stevens   86 

Dr.  Littlefield,  Needham,  Mass 86 

XV. 

Reconstruction  Was   Not   Just  to   the   South — It   Made  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan  a  Necessity. 

AUTHORITY : 

Ridpath's  "Universal  History,"  p.  176 86 

Muzzey's  "American  History,"  p.  486 87 

Mark  Twain 87 

Walter  Henry  Cook,  Reserve  University,  Cleveland,  Ohio_  .  87 

Dan  Voorhees,  Senator  from  Indiana 87 

Reconstruction  Governors: 89 

(Governors  Moses,  Clayton  and  Warmouth). 

"The  Chicago  Chronicle" 89 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr 89 

"Secret  Political  Societies  in  the  South,"  Walter  Cook 90 

Harper  &  Brothers,  N.  Y. 90 

"History  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan" 91 


10 


XVI. 
Race  Prejudice  is  Stronger  in  the  North  Than  in  the  South. 

AUTHORITY: 

Page 

"Democracy  in  America/'  De  Tocqueville_l 92 

William  Seward 92 

Kansas  Legislature   92 

Muzzey's  "American  History"   93 

Lunt's  "Origin  of  Late  War" 93 

Major-General  Quitman  of  New  York 93 

"The  Secession  War  in  America/'  J.  P.  Shaffull 93 

Pittsburg,    Pa.,   Daily 94 

William  Makepeace  Thackeray ..  15 

"Boston  Herald,"  September  12,   1919__  94 

XVII. 

The  South  Was  More  Interested  in  the  Freedom  of  the  Slaves 
Than  the  North. 

AUTHORITY : 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr 95 

"Congressional  Records/'  1860 96 

"U universal  Emancipation,"  Lundy 97 

George  Lunt's  "History" 97,  100 

"The  Sectional  Controversy,"  W.  C.  Fowler 98 

Salmon  P.  Chase 98 

Rice's  "Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln'' -    98 

General  Don  Piatt   98 

Barnes'  "Popular  History,"  p.  478 102 

Edward  Everett,  Fanueil  Hall 102 

Judge  Jeremiah  Black .  102 

Abraham   Lincoln    96 

Richardson's  "Defense  of  the  South" 96 

J.  J.  Veath 103 

Hill  Peebles  Wilson 103 

XVIII. 
Why  the  South  Demands  Corrected  Textbooks. 

AUTHORITY : 

Muzzey's   "American  History" 110 

Davidson's  "History"   104 

Montgomery's  "Beginner's  History" 104 

"British   Encyclopedia''    104 

Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  "History  of  the  Early  Colonies'' 107 

11 


Page 

Massachusetts  "Historical  Collections,"  Vol.  IV.,  p.  20 107 

"Continental  Journal/'  Massachusetts,  March  1,  1781 107 

"The  Cyclopedia  of  Political  Slavery,"  Vol.  III.,  p.  733. __  107 

"Smart  Set,"  February,  1920 106 

"Pelham  Papers" 105 

New  Twentieth  Century  Edition  of  "British  Encyclopedia'' 

p.  360,  "American  Literature" _  ._  104 

Hildreth's  "Despotism  in  America" 106 

"The  Evening  Sun,"  Baltimore,  Md.,  Nov.  17,  1919 108 

Henry  Cabot  Lodge  107 

"Family  Life  in  Virginia,"  p.  344 105 

"History  of  the  Early  Colonies,"  Lodge,  p.  154 105 

James  Russell  Lowell  .. 110 

Lossing's  "History  Concerning  Robert  E.  Lee/'  Vol.  V.; 

Chap.  116,  p.  1483 108 

Richard  Hildreth  105 

"Official  History  of  Suffrage" 108 

"Boys  of  '61,"  Coffin,  pp.  446,  29,  518,  520,  411 109 

Holland's  "Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln" 109 

"The  British  Weekly" 109 

Librarian,  Pueblo,  Colorado 112 

Champion's  "War  of  the  Union" 112 

"The  Story  of  a  Great  March" . 111 

William  and  Mary  "Quarterly" 112 

"The  New  York  World"  -112 

Muzzey's  "History  of  the  American  People" 110 

"The  Chicago  Tribune"  110 

Davidson's  "History"  110 

James  Russell  Lowell 108 

XIX. 

The  Vilification  of  Jefferson  Davis  Became  Necessary  to  Make 
the  Glorification  of  Abraham  Lincoln  More  Effective. 

AUTHORITY: 

"Harper's  Weekly"  110,  111 

"New  York   Tribune"  110 

"The  Story  of  a  Great  March" 111 

Thaddeus   Stevens   111 

John  Forney,  "Washington  Chronicle" 111 

Boutwell  of  Massachusetts 111 

Cheney's  "History" 110.  Ill 


12 


XX. 
Some  of  the  Omissions  of  History. 

AUTHORITY: 

Page 

Preface    II.-XL 

The  First  Battle  of  Bull  Run 112 

"The  New  York  World" • 112 

"Great  Epochs  of  American  History" 112 

Merrimac   (Virginia),  and  Monitor 113 

The  English  and  French  Men  of  War 113 

Stedman's  "American  Literature" 113 

Richardson's  "American  Literature'' 113 

Pattee's  "American  Literature"  113 

Houghton,   Mifflin  &   Co 113 

Famous  Rides  of  History 114 


INTRODUCTION 


The  South  is  not  given  credit  for  the  part  she  deserves  in  the 
making  of  the  Nation.  The  text  books  that  are  now  being  used 
are  most  unjust  to  her;  the  reference  books  now  in  the  libraries 
are  most  unjust  to  her;  the  omissions  in  history  as  now  written 
are  most  unjust  to  her ;  the  history  as  now  written,  if  accepted, 
will  consign  her  to  infamy. 

Realizing  this,  "THE  TRUTHS  OF  HISTORY"  gathered  from 
statements  made  by  men  of  unquestioned  authority,  have  been 
put  together  in  a  connected  way  for  the  guidance  of  any  desir 
ing  to  have  the  proofs  concerning  these  facts  at  hand. 

It  is  hoped  that  every  teacher  of  history  and  literature  will 
use  "TRUTHS  OF  HISTORY"  in  connection  with  their  text  books 
to  counteract  the  falsehoods  of  history  which  are  now  to  be 
found  everywhere  in  literature. 

It  has  been  stated  that  eighty  one  per  cent,  of  the  schools  and 
colleges  in  the  South  are  today  using  text  books  untrue  to  the 
South,  and  seventeen  per  cent,  are  using  histories  omitting  most 
important  facts  concerning  the  South. 

Dr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  in  his  "Southern  States  of  the  American 
Nation/'  says: 

"History,  poetry,  romance,  art,  and  public  opinion  have 
been  most  unjust  to  the  South.  If  the  true  record  be  given, 
the  South  is  rich  in  patriotism,  in  intellectual  force  ,in 
civic  and  military  achievements,  in  heroism,  in  honorable 
and  sagacious  statesmanship — but  if  history  as  now  written 
is  accepted  it  will  consign  the  South  to  infamy." 

The  South  should  not  be  afraid  to  speak  the  truth  and  call 
injustice  by  its  proper  name.  In  failing  to  do  this  heretofore 
we  have  been  unjust  to  the  South. 

For  fear  of  offending  some  personal  friends  of  the  North,  we 
have  assumed  an  apologetic  tone  too  long ;  and  for  fear  of  fail 
ing  to  secure  an  office  or  some  honor  we  have  allowed  politics  to 
make  us  unjust. 

There  is  no  need  for  any  animus  to  be  shown,  for  no  facts 
must  be  stated  which  cannot  be  substantiated  by  reliable  author 
ity  on  the  other  side — but  we  must  not  be  afraid  to  speak  boldly. 

I. 


PREFACE 

The  histories  as  now  written  magnify  and  exalt  the  New 
England  colonies,  and  the  Mayflower  crew  with  bare  mention  of 
Jamestown  Colony,  thirteen  years  older,  and  the  crews  of  the 
Susan  Constant,  the  Discovery,  and  the  Goodspeed — the  names 
of  these  vessels  are  not  even  given  in  most  histories. 

An  extended  account  is  always  given  of  the  religious  faith 
and  practice  of  the  New  England  Colony,  but  little  or  nothing 
is  said  of  the  religious  faith  and  practice  of  the  Jamestown 
Colony,  and  no  mention  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale's  Code  in  the 
Jamestown  Colony — that  code  which  enforced  daily  attendance' 
upon  Divine  worship,  penalty  for  absence,  penalty  for  plas- 
phemy,  penalty  for  speaking  evil  of  the  Church,  and  refusing  to 
answer  the  Catechism,  and  for  neglecting  work. 

Histories  as  now  written  lay  great  stress  upon  the  industries 
of  the  New  England  colonies,  and  speak  of  the  South  as  made 
up  of  "a  landed  aristocracy  with  slavery  as  its  only  excuse  for 
existence. ' ' 

They  speak  of  slavery  as  a  most  barbarous  institution,  and 
while  holding  Virginia  responsible  for  introducing  slaves  into 
the  American  colonies,  they  say  nothing  of  the  slave  trade  and 
who  was  responsible  for  that.  They  record  that  William  Penn 
urged  the  freedom  of  the  slaves,  and  do  not  tell  that  William 
Penn  died  a  slaveholder. 

They  are  careful  to  tell  of  the  great  men  of  New  England, 
which  they  should  do,  but  they  should  not  make  one  believe  that 
they  alone  were  responsible  for  making  the  Nation  great. 

While  stressing  the  prominent  part  taken  by  their  great  men, 
they  fail  to  tell  you  that  many  of  them  stood  for  State  Sov 
ereignty  and  the  right  of  Secession  as  strongly  as  the  South  did. 

They  will  tell  you  of  the  nineteen  patriots  at  Lexington,  but 
overlook  entirely  the  one  hundred  patriots  at  Alamance.  They 
will  tell  you  of  the  Boston  Tea  Party  but  ignore  the  tea  parties 
at  Charleston,  Annapolis  and  other  Southern  ports,  and  omit 
the  Eden  ton,  (N.  C.)  tea  party  where  fifty-one  patriotic  women 
organized  the  first  patriotic  organization  for  women  in  the 
world— "The  Daughters  of  Liberty." 

II. 


They  will  tell  you  of  Otis,  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams  and 
other  men  of  New  England,  but  make  no  mention  of  Edmund 
Pendleton,  of  Virginia,  who  first  suggested  that  we  should  be 
free  of  English  rule,  nor  of  Thomas  Nelson,  of  Virginia,  who 
read  Pendleton 's  Resolutions  in  the  Virginia  Assembly,  nor  of 
Richard  Henry  Lee  who  was  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress  to 
present  these  Resolutions,  yet  these  were  the  Resolutions  that 
were  adopted  and  resulted  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
that  made  us  a  Nation. 

They  will  not  tell  you  that  the  Executive,  Judicial  and  Legis 
lative  branches  of  the  Government  were  proposed  by  a  South 
ern  man,  and  that  John  Marshall  of  Virginia  settled  the  rela 
tions  of  these  to  the  Government. 

They  will  tell  of  the  great  abolition  movement,  and  extol 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips,  John  G.  Whittier, 
Walt  Whitman,  the  Beechers  and  others,  but  omit  to  tell  you 
that  Washington,  George  Mason,  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Ran 
dolph,  James  Madison,  John  Monroe,  the  Lees  and  others  plan 
ned  to  free  their  slaves  and  advocated  the  colonization  or  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  all  slaves. 

They  will  tell  you  that  Abraham  Lincoln  "broke  the  shackles 
that  bound  the  poor  slaves, ' '  but  will  not  tell  you  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  left  the  poor  slaves  in  non-seceding  states  still  wearing 
the  shackles,  and  a  Southern  man,  John  Brooks  Henderson  of 
Missouri,  by  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  freed  them  after  Lin 
coln's  death. 

They  will  tell  you  that  Liberia  was  bought  by  a  Benevolent 
Society  "to  colonize  the  poor  slaves,"  but  will  not  tell  you  that 
a  Southern  man  was  the  president  of  that  society,  and  that  the 
capital  of  Liberia  was  named  Monrovia  after  James  Monroe  of 
Virginia,  and  protected  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

They  will  tell  you  of  the  horrible  assassination  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  it  was,  but  say  nothing  of  the  far  more  horrible 
hanging  of  Mrs.  Surratt,  an  innocent  woman,  without  judge  or 
jury,  upon  a  false  accusation,  nor  of  Dalgren's  plan  to  assassi 
nate  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  entire  Cabinet,  and  no  condemna 
tion  followed. 

They  tell  of  the  falsehood  of  history,  that  Jefferson  Davis 
tried  to  escape  in  woman's  clothes,  and  say  little  of  the  cowardly 
disguise  of  Lincoln  in  entering  Washington. 

III. 


Abraham  Lincoln  is  extolled  for  continued  violations  of  the 
Constitution  and  Jefferson  Davis  maligned  for  daring  to  stand 
by  it  and  uphold  it. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  services  to  the  country  are  magnified  and 
Jefferson  Davis'  services  to  the  Federal  government  minimized. 
They  will  tell  you  of  the  horrors  of  Andersonville,  and  they 
were  horrors,  but  fail  to  tell  you  who  was  responsible  for  them, 
nor  that  the  mortality  was  far  greater  among  Southern  men  in 
Northern  prisons,  and  without  excuse. 

The  victories  of  the  Northern  Army  are  magnified  and  the 
victories  of  the  Southern  Army  mentioned  lightly  or  slightingly. 
They  do  not  tell  that  General  Grant,  a  slaveholder,  was  put  as 
leader  of  the  Northern  Army  and  General  Lee,  who  had  freed 
his  slaves,  as  the  leader  of  the  Southern  Army,  but  they  do  say 
that  the  war  was  fought  to  hold  the  slaves  yet  do  not  tell  that 
only  200,000  slaveholders  were  in  the  Southern  Army,  while 
315,000  slaveholders  were  in  the  Northern  Army. 

The  South  is  no  longer  willing  to  stand  for  these  misrepre 
sentations  and  omissions  of  history,  and  a  fair-minded  North 
will  not  blame  the  South,  and  will  be  ready  to  hear  her  side  of 
the  story,  provided  it  is  given  from  facts  and  not  traditions. 
GENERAL  LEE  said : 

"Every  one  should  do  all  in  his  power  to  collect  and  dis 
seminate  the  truth,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  find  a  place  in 
history  and  descend  to  posterity. ' ' 
Again  General  Lee  said : 

"History  is  not  the  relation  of  campaigns,  and  battles, 
and  generals  or  other  individuals,  but  that  which  shows  the 
principles  for  which  the  South  contended  and  which  justi 
fied  her  struggle  for  those  principles. " 

General  Lee  showed  he  was  far  more  concerned  that  the  cause 
should  be  vindicated  than  that  he  should  be  glorified  or  any  act 
of  his  or  others  be  magnified. 
He  said  also: 

"All  that  the  South  has  ever  asked  or  desired  is  that  the 
Union  founded  by  our  forefathers  should  be  preserved,  and 
that  the  government  as  was  originally  organized  should  be 
administered  in  purity  and  truth." 

BENJAMIN  H.  HILL  felt  great  concern  about  this  question.     He 
said: 

"We  owe  it  to  our  dead,  to  our  living,  and  to  our  chil- 

IV. 


dren  to  preserve  the  truth  and  repel  the  falsehoods,  so  that 
we  may  secure  just  judgment  from  the  only  tribunal  be 
fore  which  we  may  appear  and  be  fully  and  fairly  heard, 
and  that  tribunal  is  the  bar  of  history. ' ' 

Had  the  South  followed  this  advice  we  would  not  today,  after 
sixty  or  more  years  have  passed,  be  obliged  to  correct  these  false 
hoods  of  history.  Falsehoods  circulated  not  only  in  our  own 
country,  but  now  widely  circulated  in  foreign  countries  by  such 
writers  as  George  Creel,  Booth  Tarkington  and  Dr.  Crane. 

THOMAS  NELSON  PAGE,  several  years  ago,  gave  the  South  a  great 
warning  which  we  of  the  South  did  not  heed.    He  said : 

"In  a  few  years  there  will  be  no  South  to  demand  a  his 
tory  if  we  leave  history  as  it  is  now  written.  How  do  we 
stand  today  in  the  eyes  of  the  world?  We  are  esteemed 
'ignorant,  illiterate,  cruel,  semi^barbarous,  a  race  sunken 
in  brutality  and  vice,'  a  race  of  slave  drivers  who  'disrupted 
the  Union  in  order  to  perpetuate  human  slavery'  and  'who 
as  a  people  have  contributed  nothing  to  the  advancement 
of  mankind.'  ' 

Dr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry  also  warned  us.  The  Confederate  Veter 
ans  have  through  their  historians,  over  and  over  again,  warned 
us.  Colonel  Louis  Guion  in  1900  at  New  Orleans,  La.,  offered 
resolutions  providing  for  history  committees  to  be  appointed  to 
investigate  the  text  books  then  being  used  in  our  schools.  The 
movement  started  and  several  objectionable  text  books  were 
ruled  out.  Other  U.  C.  V.  historians  did  the  same.  In  Col. 
Guion 's  speech  before  that  Convention,  he  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  in  nearly  every  history  then  in  use  the  children  were 
being  taught  that  their  fathers  and  grandfathers  were  "traitors 
and  rebels,"  and  that  the  war  was  a  war  of  rebellion  and  they 
were  calling  it  a  Civil  War.  That  the  children  in  their  literary 
work  in  schools  were  reciting  "Barbara  Frietchie,"  a  myth  of 
history  by  Whittier's  own  acknowledgment,  and  were  being 
taught  that  Stonewall  Jackson  was  a  Hun  in  spirit.  Also  that 
they  were  reciting  "Sheridan's  Ride"  by  Buchanan  Read,  who 
in  the  poem  alludes  to  the  Confederates  as  "traitors." 

I  have  always  found  the  fair-minded  men  and  women  of  the 
North  anxious  to  hear  the  South 's  side  of  history.  I  am  sure 
they  have  no  respect  for  us  when  we  are  afraid  to  tell  the  truth. 

The  South  has  really  more  to  fear  from  the  omissions  of  his 
tory  than  from  falsehoods  included  in  the  text  books  now  writ- 

V. 


ten.  One  of  the  greatest  omissions  is  the  heroic  part  the  men  in 
the  Southern  Navy  took  in  the  War  between  the  States. 

When  the  news  reached  them  that  Fort  Sumter  had  been 
fired  upon,  they  from  a  high-toned  sense  of  honor  surrendered 
their  vessels  to  the  United  States  Government  from  whom  they 
had  received  their  commission,  and  then  returned  home  to  cast 
in  their  lot  with  their  own  states.  This  sacrifice  was  a  great  one 
and  meant  giving  up  all  that  they  had  received  in  education, 
training  for  the  Navy  and  in  the  experience  they  had  gained  in 
service.  It  meant  foregoing  all  hope  of  promotion  of  honors  in 
that  line — but  they  willingly  did  it  for  the  principle  so  dear  to 
them.  They  returned  to  find  the  South  without  a  navy  and 
without  means  then  of  securing  one.  They  did  their  best  with 
the  vessels  available  and  never  murmured.  History  exalts  those 
Southern  men  who  refused  to  make  this  sacrifice  and  remained 
in  the  United  States  Navy,  but  omits  to  tell  the  heroic  deeds  of 
those  who  under  the  most  trying  circumstances  won  immortal 
renown.  History  should  be  made  to  record  the  heroic  deeds  of 
the  South  as  well  as  of  the  North. 

Surely  the  man  who  organized  the  United  States  Naval  Acad 
emy  at  Annapolis,  the  man  who  assisted  in  the  capture  of  Vera 
Cruz,  the  man  who  commanded  Perry's  flagship  in  Japan  ex 
pedition  and  the  man  who  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Washington — to  say  nothing  of  that  man's  services  in 
the  Confederate  Navy,  winning  the  highest  honors  ever  given, 
being  the  only  one  to  hold  the  high  office  of  Admiral,  deserves  a 
prominent  place  in  the  United  States  history.  Yet  one  rarely 
finds  the  name  of  Admiral  Franklin  Buchanan  mentioned  ex 
cept  in  books  by  Southern  men. 

Rear-Admiral  Raphael  Semmes  should  hold  a  high  place  in 
truthful  history  not  only  for  his  book,  "Service  Afloat/'  but 
ranking  as  Commander  of  the  "Alabama"  with  John  Paul 
Jones,  Decatur,  Lawrence,  Farragut,  Dewey  and  other  great 
naval  heroes,  and  yet  we  rarely  find  his  name  or  his  deeds  men 
tioned  in  history  outside  of  his  native  state. 

The  name  of  Matthew  Fontaine  Maury,  the  one  who  suggested 
organizing  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  the  one  who  wrote 
the  text  book  for  the  United  States  Navy;  the  one  who  revolu 
tionized  the  sailing  of  the  world  by  charts  (the  voyage  around 
Cape  Horn  being  shortened  by  forty  days  and  at  a  saving  to  the 

VI. 


Government  of  $40,000,000  annually)  ;  the  one  who  suggested 
the  Weather  Bureau,  and  really  was  the  one  responsible  for  the 
National  Observatory;  the  one  who  made  Cyrus  Field's  Atlantic 
Cable  a  possibility;  the  one  who  redeemed  the  lands  of  the 
Mississippi ;  the  one  who  established  the  great  circuit  routes  for 
ocean  steamers;  the  one  who  traced  the  great  Gulf  Stream — 
this  man  of  science  cannot  be  left  out  of  truthful  history.  His 
name  is  not  even  found  in  the  Congressional  Library's  list  of 
noted  scientists  because  he  cast  his  lot  with  the  Confederate 
Cause. 

Maury  was  invited  to  become  a  member  of  every  leading  lit 
erary  and  scientific  society  in  England  and  on  the  Continent; 
he  was  knighted  by  Russia,  Denmark,  Portugal,  Belgium,  and 
France.  Gold  medals  were  bestowed  upon  him  by  Prussia, 
Australia  , Sweden,  Holland,  Sardinia,  Bremen  and  France. 
Germany  gave  him  the  "Cosmos  Medal,"  the  only  duplicate  ever 
given.  Cambridge  University,  England,  gave  him  the  degree 
of  LL.D.,  and  Berlin  erected  a  monument  to  him  with  this  in 
scription:  "A  man  whom  kings  delight  to  honor"  and  yet  his 
own  United  States  people,  because  he  fought  for  the  South,  had 
his  name  erased  from  his  wonderful  charts,  and  refused  to  let 
him  be  classed  with  the  great  men  of  science. 

Shall  omissions  as  these  in  history  in  justice  to  the  world  be 
allowed  .any  longer  ? 

Had  the  cause  of  the  South  in  1865  prevailed,  history  would 
have  been  truthfully  written  by  unprejudiced  historians  The 
Southern  statesmen  who  had  been  true  to  the  Constitution  could 
better  have  steered  the  "Ship  of  State''  than  such  men  as  Thad 
Stevens,  Chas.  Sumner,  Fessenden,  Turnbull,  Andrew  Johnson 
and  others. 

It  has  taken  the  South  many  years  to  get  off  of  that  "Rock  of 
Offense,"  the  Reconstruction  Period.  While  the  South  was  com 
batting  the  destructive  forces  at  work  during  this  time — homes 
were  being  destroyed,  domestic  relations  were  being  upset,  prop 
erty  was  being  confiscated,  politics  was  being  corrupted,  liberty 
of  speech,  and  liberty  of  the  press  were  being  suppressed — the 
North  was  writing  the  history  unmolested  and  we  of  the  South 
have  allowed  this  history  written  from  the  Northern  viewpoint, 
with  absolute  ignorance  of  the  South,  to  be  taught  in  our  schools 
all  these  years  with  an  indifference  that  is  truly  appalling. 

VII. 


We  have  allowed  our  leaders  and  our  soldiers  to  be  spoken  of 
as  "rebels."  Secession  was  not  rebellion. 

We  have  allowed  them  to  be  called  "traitors" — they  could 
never  convict  one  Southern  man  for  the  stand  he  took  in  1861. 

We  have  allowed  our  cause  to  be  spoken  of  as  a  "  Lost  Cause. ' ' 
The  Cause  for  which  the  Confederate  soldier  fought  was  not  a 
"Lost  Cause."  The  late  war  was  fought  to  maintain  the  very 
same  principle — the  non-interference  with  just  rights.  The 
trouble  in  1865  was  that  the  South  failed  to  maintain  this  prin 
ciple  by  force  of  arms.  Being  a  Republic  of  Sovereign  States 
and  not  a  Nation  she  had  the  right  to  resent  any  interference 
with  rights  which  had  been  guaranteed  to  her  by  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  South  never  has  abandoned  the  principle  for  which 
she  fought  nor  ever  will.  By  overwhelming  arms,  2,850,000  to 
a  small  handful,  comparatively  speaking,  600,000,  she  was  forced 
to  surrender,  and  in  surrendering  she  was  forced  to  submit  to 
the  terms  of  parole  which  were  that  she  should  never  secede 
again.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  right  to  secede  is  not  still 
in  the  Constitution,  but  the  promise  has  been  made  never  to  try 
it  again,  and  she  will  keep  that  promise. 

We  have  allowed  the  war  to  be  called  a  Civil  War,  because 
the  North  called  it  so  when  history  was  first  written,  and  by 
allowing  this  we  acknowledged  that  we  were  a  Nation,  not  Sov 
ereign  States,  and  therefore  had  no  right  to  secede.  No  wonder 
that  the  doctrine  of  State  Rights  has  been  so  misunderstood ! 

It  is  with  no  thought  of  stirring  up  sectional  strife,  but  rather 
with  the  desire  of  allaying  sectional  bitterness  that  I  am  anxious 
to  have  the  truth  known.  If  the  North  does  not  know  the 
South 's  side  of  history — and  how  can  she  know  it  if  we  do  not 
tell  it  to  the  world — then  the  historians  of  the  future  will  con 
tinue  to  misrepresent  the  South,  and  the  South  will  continue 
to  resent  the  misrepresentations. 

We  of  the  South  are  not  advocating  the  adoption  of  any  one 
text  book,  but  we  are  advocating  that  those  text  books  unjust 
to  the  South  shall  be  ruled  out  of  our  schools,  out  of  our  homes, 
out  of  our  public  and  private  libraries,  and  that  new  encyclo 
pedias  and  books  of  reference  now  being  sold  or  given  as  a 
bribe  to  secure  commendation  be  carefully  examined  before 
placed  in  public  or  private  libraries. 

The  great  underlying  thought  which  animated  the  soldiers  of 

VIII. 


the  Confederacy  was  their  profound  regard  for  the  principle  of 
State  self-government — they  were  not  fighting  to  hold  their 
slaves.  Only  a  very  small  minority  of  the  men  who  fought  in 
the  Southern  army  were  slaveholders. 

"It  was  the  abolitionists  of  the  North  who  looked  on  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  a  'scrap  of  paper,'  'a 
covenant  with  death  and  a  league  with  hell, '  who  demanded 
an  anti-slavery  Constitution,  an  anti-slavery  Bible,  and  an 
anti-slavery  God." 

George  Lunt,  in  his  "Origin  of  the  Late  War/'  says  that  such 
men  at  the  North  were  in  the  minority. 

The  movements  for  emancipation  began  early  in  the  South 
and  were  hindered  by  the  intemperate  and  fanatical  abuse  of 
slaveholders  by  the  abolitionists  and  also  by  the  difficult  prob 
lem  of  how  to  regulate  the  relations  of  the  two  races  so  rad 
ically  different  after  emancipation.  The  South  fought  for  the 
right  to  settle  her  own  domestic  affairs,  free  from  any  interfer 
ence  on  the  part  of  self-constituted  advisers. 

The  doctrine  of  States  Rights  is  not  well  understood.  The 
States  do  not  derive  their  rights  from  the  Constitution,  but  the 
Constitution  derives  its  rights  from  the  States. 

The  States  do  not  derive  their  rights  from  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment,  but  each  State  derives  its  power  from  the  people  of 
the  State.  At  last  the  people  hold  the  power,  and  it  is  not  the 
people  of  all  States  collectively,  but  the  people  of  each  one  of 
the  Thirteen  Sovereign  States,  separately,  who  act  in  conven 
tion  representing  the  will  of  the  people,  so  the  people  must  not 
surrender  this  power  to  direct  their  local  affairs  to  the  Govern 
ment. 

GEORGE  BANCROFT'S  "History  of  the  United  States": 

"The  Federal  Government  is  only  a  common  agent  for 
the  transaction  of  the  business  delegated  to  it  by  the  action 
of  the  States." 

It  is  not  well  understood  what  are  the  States  Rights  that  are 
guaranteed  by  the  Constitution. 
CIIIKP  JUSTICE  DAY,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  Juno 

3,  1918,  said : 

"If  Congress  can  regulate  matters  entrusted  to  local  au 
thority,  the  power  of  the  States  may  be  eliminated,  and  thus 
our  system  of  government  be  practically  destroyed." 

IX. 


PRESIDENT  GROVER  CLEVELAND  said : 

"The  doctrine  of  home  rule,  as  I  understand  it,  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  republican  institutions,  and  cannot  be 
too  strongly  insisted  upon." 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  said: 

"When  all  government,  domestic  and  foreign,  in  little 
things  as  in  great  things,  shall  be  drawn  to  Washington 
as  the  center  of  all  power,  it  will  render  powerless  the 
checks  provided  by  our  government  on  another,  and  will 
become  venal  and  oppressive  as  the  government  from  which 
we  have  just  separated." 

"Life  of  Webster/'  in  American  Statesmen  Series,  by  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge,  Senator  from  Massachusetts: 

"When  the  Constitution  was  adopted  by  the  votes  of 
States  at  Philadelphia,  and  accepted  by  the  votes  of  States 
in  popular  conventions,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there  was  not 
a  man  in  the  country,  from  Washington  and  Hamilton,  on 
the  one  side,  to  George  Clinton  and  George  Mason  on  the 
other,  who  regarded  the  new  system  as  anything  but  an 
experiment  entered  upon  as  States,  and  from  which  each 
and  every  State  had  the  right  peaceably  to  withdraw,  a 
right  which  was  very  likely  to  be  exercised." 

GEORGE  CLINTON  of  New  York,  said : 

"The  sovereignty  of  the  States,  I  consider  the  only 
stable  security  for  the  liberties  of  the  people  against  the 
encroachment  of  power." 

RAWLE'S  "View  of  the  Constitution": 

"The  Union  was  formed  by  the  voluntary  agreement  of 
the  States,  and  in  uniting  together  they  have  not  forfeited 
their  nationality,  nor  have  they  been  reduced  to  one  and 
the  same  people.  If  one  of  the  States  chooses  to  withdraw 
its  name  from  the  contract,  it  would  be  difficult  to  disprove 
its  right  of  doing  so,  and  the  Federal  Government  would 
have  no  means  of  maintaining  its  claim,  either  by  force  or 
right." 

The  South  has  been  very  patient,  but  can  afford  to  be  patient 
no  longer — she  must  demand  that  the  truth  be  told,  and  the 
truth  is  all  she  asks. 

She  desires  that  the  truth  be  told  in  such  a  way  that  peace 
between  the  sections  shall  be  the  result.  Peace  cannot  come 
until  the  truth  is  known  and  acknowledged  by  both  North  and 
South.  These  "TRUTHS  OF  HISTORY"  are  presented  with  this 
thought  in  mind. 

X. 


GENERAL  BENNETT  H.  YOUNG  said: 

''The  time  has  come  when  men  may  speak  freely,  kindly, 
and  truly  of  the  past.  The  War  between  the  States  with  its 
sacrifices  has  ceased,  and  peace  between  the  sections  with 
its  ennobling,  refining  and  uplifting  influences  has  come  to 
abide  forever.  They  who  would  stay  its  marches  and  delay 
its  reign  are  the  enemies  of  the  Nation's  happiness." 

The  South  should  be  as  quick  to  resent  an  injustice  to  the 
North  in  history  as  she  now  resents  an  injustice  to  the  South 
by  the  North. 

Already  instances  have  come  to  notice  where  text  books 
making  false  statements  about  the  North  have  been  rejected  in 
Southern  schools.  Will  not  the  North  be  as  magnanimous? 

Read  "The  Measuring  Rod"  for  testing  text-books,  and  en 
dorsing  books  for  libraries,  which  was  prepared  at  the  request 
of  the  Confederate  Veterans.  Read  the  "Warning"  given. 

MILDRED  LEWIS  RUTHERFORD. 

The  Villa,  Athens,  Ga. 


XI. 


THE  TRUTHS  OF  HISTORY 


i. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
1787,  WAS  A  COMPACT  BETWEEN  SOVEREIGN 
STATES,  AND  WAS  NOT  PERPETUAL  NOR 
NATIONAL. 

AUTHORITY: 
ELLIOTT'S  DEBATES,  Vol.  V.,  p.  214: 

"When  the  Constitution  was  outlined  and  read,  the 
words  Perpetual  Union  which  had  been  in  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  were  omitted.  Alexander  Hamilton  and 
others  noticing  it,  and  desiring  a  Union,  opposed  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution.  Some  one  moved  to  have  it  made 
a  National  Government,  but  this  motion  was  unanimously 
defeated.  Senator  Ellsworth  of  Connecticut  and  Senator 
Gorham  of  Massachusetts  have  testified  to  this." 

DANIEL  WEBSTER,  "The  Federalist/'  p.  908: 

' '  If  the  states  were  not  left  to  leave  the  Union  when  their 
rights  were  interfered  with,  the  government  would  have 
been  National,  but  the  Convention  refused  to  baptize  it  by 
that  name." 

DANIEL  WEBSTER,  Capon  Springs  Speech,  in  1851 : 

"The  Union  is  a  Union  of  States  founded  upon  Compact. 
How  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  when  different  parties  enter 
into  a  compact  for  certain  purposes  either  can  disregard 
one  provision  of  it  and  expect  others  to  observe  the  rest? 

"If  the  Northern  States  wilfully  and  deliberately  refuse 
to  carry  out  their  part  of  the  Constitution,  the  South  would 
be  no  longer  bound  to  keep  the  compact, 

"A  bargain  broken  on  one  side  is  broken  on  all  sides." 

DANIEL  WEBSTER  in  1833  said: 

"If  a  contract,  it  rests  on  plighted  faith,  and  the  mode 
of  redress  would  be  to  declare  the  whole  void.  States  may 
secede  if  a  League  or  Compact." 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE  says : 

"The  weak  place  in  Webster's  armour  in  the  Hayne- 
Webster  Debate  was  historical — the  facts  were  against  him. 
And  Chief  Justice  Story  in  that  controversy  never  once 
mentioned  secession,  he  was  only  stressing  nullification." 


2  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

COMMENTARIES  ON  THE  CONSTITUTION,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  287 : 

"The  attributes  of  sovereignty  are  now  enjoyed  by  every 
State  in  the  Union." — Alexander  Hamilton. 

"The  Thirteen  States  are  Thirteen  Sovereignties. " — 
James  Wilson  of  Pennsylvania. 

"Each  State  enjoys  sovereign  power." — Gouverneur 
Morris. 

"The  Government  was  made  by  a  number  of  Sovereign 
States. ' ' — Roger  Sherman. 

"The  Thirteen  States  are  Thirteen  Sovereign  bodies." 
— Oliver  Ellsworth. 

"The  States  are  Nations." — Daniel  Webster. 

Every  one  of  these  men  were  delegates  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  except  Daniel  Webster. 

THE  FEDERALIST,  Chapter  VIII,  Nos.  XI,  XXXIX : 

"If  it  were  a  consolidated  government  the  assent  of  a 
majority  of  the  people  would  be  sufficient  to  establish  it. 
but  it  is  to  be  binding  on  the  people  of  each  State,  and  only 
by  their  own  separate  consent." 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  "The  Federalist/'  Vol.  LX. : 

"If  the  Constitution  is  adopted  (and  it  was)  the  Union 
will  be  in  fact  and  in  theory  an  association  of  States  or  a 
Confederacy. ' ' 

DANIEL  WEBSTER,  U.  S.  Senate,  Feb.  15,  1833 : 

"If  the  Union  was  formed  by  the  accession  of  States  then 
the  Union  may  be  dissolved  by  the  secession  of  States." 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  Franklin  Works,  Vol.  V.,  p.  409 : 
"The  States  acceded  to  the  Constitution." 

JUDGE  STORY: 

"If  the  Constitution  is  a  compact  then  the  States  have  a 
right  to  secede." 

GEORGE  BANCROFT,  History  of  the  United  States: 

"The  States  that  gave  life  to  the  Union  are  necessary  to 
the  continuance  of  that  life." 
JAMES  BUCHANAN  : 

"Rawle  taught  at  West  Point  that  the  Union  was  an 
asociation  of  independent  republics." 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS,  "Constitutional  Ethics  of  Secession/' 
pp.  16,  17: 

"William  Rawle  was  an  eminent  Philadelphia  lawyer 
and  was  twenty-nine  years  of  age  when  the  Constitution 


THE    TRUTHS    OP    HISTORY  3 

was  adopted.  He  was,  for  many  years,  Chancellor  of  the 
Law  Association  of  Philadelphia  and  principal  author  of 
the  revised  Code  of  Pennsylvania,  and  stood  in  the  foremost 
rank  of  the  legal  luminaries  of  the  first  third  of  the  cen 
tury/' 

GEORGE  BANCROFT  says : 

"The  Constitution  was  adopted  first  by  States  in  Con 
vention,  each  State  acting  for  itself  in  its  own  sovereign 
capacity." 
LORD  BROUGHAM  said : 

"The  devising  of  means  for  keeping  its  integrity  as  a 
federacy,  while  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  individual 
States  are  maintained  entire,  is  the  greatest  refinement  of 
social  policy  to  which  any  age  has  ever  given  birth." 


II. 
Secession  Was  Not  Rebellion 

AUTHORITY: 
DR.  HENRY  WADE  ROGERS,  Dean  of  the  Law  Department  of  Yale : 

"When  peace  came  it  was  found  that  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  were  weak,  in  that  the  Central  government 
could  not  legally  assume  sovereign  power — that  power  re 
sided  in  those  free,  sovereign  and  independent  States,  and 
there  was  no  delegation  of  any  rights  to  a  central  head. 

"It  became  necessary,  therefore,  to  change  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  so  that  the  States  should  be  brought  to 
cooperate,  by  realizing  that  the  government  should  not  be 
a  perpetual  Union,  but  an  agreement  by  which  certain 
rights  were  reserved  for  the  Federal  government,  and  cer 
tain  rights  were  reserved  for  the  State." 

RAWLE 's  "View  of  the  Constitution"  was  a  text-book  used  at 
West  Point.    Rawle  said: 

"It  will  depend  upon  the   State  itself  whether  it  will 
.  continue  a  member  of  the  Union." 

"If  the  States  are  interfered  with  they  may  wholly  with 
draw  from  the  Union."  (pp.  289,  290). 

"General  Lee  told  Bishop  Wilmer,  of  Louisiana,  that  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  instruction  received  from  Rawle 's 
text-book  at  West  Point  he  would  not  have  left  the  United 
States  Army  and  joined  the  Confederate  Army  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  War  between  the  States." 


4  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

BENJAMIN  T.  WADE,  Senator  from  Ohio,  1858 : 

"Who  is  to  be  the  final  arbiter — the  government  or  the 
States — why,  to  yield  the  right  of  the  States  to  protect  its 
own  citizens  would  consolidate  this  government  into  a  mis 
erable  despotism." 

GOLDWIN  SMITH  of  Cornell  University: 

"The  Southern  leaders  ought  not  to  have  been  treated  as 
rebels — secession  is  not  rebellion." 

JUDGE  BLACK,  of  Pennsylvania,  said : 

"John  Quincy  Adams,  in  1839,  and  Abraham  Lincoln, 
1847,  made  elaborate  arguments  in  favor  of  the  legal  right 
of  a  State,  to  Secede." — Black's  Essays. 

AMERICAN  CONFLICT,  Horace  Greeley,  Vol.  I,  p.  359 : 

"Let  the  people  be  told  why  they  wish  to  break  up  the 
Confederation,  and  let  the  act  of  secession  be  the  echo  of  an 
unmistakable  popular  fiat.  Then  those  who  rush  to  carnage 
to  try  to  defeat  it  would  place  themselves  clearly  in  the 
wrong." 

Again  Horace  Greeley  said: 

"If  the  Declaration  of  Independence  justified  the  seces 
sion  of  3,000,000  colonists  in  1776,  I  do  not  see  why  the 
Constitution  ratified  by  the  same  men  should  not  justify  the 
secession  of  5,000,000  of  the  Southerners  from  the  Federal 
Union  in  1861."— New  York  Tribune. 

Again  he  says : 

"We  have  repeatedly  said,  and  we  once  more  insist  that 
the  great  principle  embodied  by  Jefferson  in  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  that  government  derives  its  power 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed  is  sound  and  just,  then  if 
the  Cotton  States,  the  Gulf  States  or  any  other  States 
choose  to  form  an  independent  nation  they  have  a  clear 
right  to  do  it." 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  said : 

"Any  people  whatever  have  a  right  to  abolish  the  exist 
ing  government  and  form  a  new  one  that  suits  them  better." 
— Congressional  Records,  1847). 

GEORGE  LUNT,  of  Massachusetts,  says: 

"Had  Buchanan  in  1860  sent  an  armed  force  to  prevent 
the  nullification  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  as  Andrew 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  5 

Jackson  threatened  to  do  in  1833,  there  would  have  been  a 
secession  of  fifteen  Northern  States  instead  of  thirteen 
Southern  States." — Origin  of  Late  War. 

BENJAMIN  J.  WILLIAMS,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  in  his  book,  Died  For 
Their  State,  said : 

"In  the  celebrated  resolutions  of  1789,  Mr.  Madison  and 
Mr.  Jefferson  declared  that  each  State  had  an  equal  right 
to  be  its  own  judge.  If  so,  then,  the  right  of  secession  by 
the  South  could  have  followed,  and  each  State  has  the  right 
to  judge  if  the  infraction  is  sufficient  to  warrant  her  with 
drawal. " 

The  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  simply  the  States  resuming 
their  delegated  sovereign  powers  in  order  to  organize  a  Union 
that  would  stand  by  the  Constitution.  That  they  had  the  right 
to  do  this,  see  Hallam's  "Constitutional  History  of  England/' 
Vol.  II.,  p.  219. 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  said: 

"Any  people  that  can  may  revolutionize  and  make  their 
own  of  so  much  of  the  territory  as  they  inhabit." — Appendix 
to  Congressional  Globe,  30th  Congress,  p.  94. 

C.  "W.  COTTOM,  in  a  letter  to  Secretary  of  Treasury,  Howell  Cobb 
in  1860,  said : 

"The  action  of  the  Southern  States  in  seceding  from  a 
Union  which  refused  to  recognize  and  protect  their  Con 
stitutional  rights  meets  with  my  most  cordial  approbation/' 

LUNT'S  "Origin  of  the  Late  War,"  p.  435,  says  that  in  a  letter 
sent  to  Fanueil  Hall,  Mr.  Everett  said : 

"If  our  sister  States  must  leave  us,  in  the  name  of 
Heaven  let  them  go  in  peace. ' ' 

GEORGE  LUNT,  in  his  "Origin  of  the  Late  War,'9   (D.  Apple- 
ton  &  Co.)  : 

"Had  the  Democrats  won  out  in  1860  the  Northern 
States  would  have  been  the  seceding  States  not  the  South 
ern." 

EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE,  in  his  "Life  of  William  Seward,"  says: 
' '  The  Civil  War  will  not  be  treated  as  a  rebellion,  but  as 
a  great  event  in  the  history  of  our  nation  which,  after  forty 
years,  it  is  clearly  recognized  to  have  been." 

HORACE  GREELEY: 

"The  right  to  secede  may  be  a  revolutionary  one,  but  it 
exists  nevertheless;  and  we  do  not  see  how  one  party  can 
have  a  right  to  do  what  another  party  has  a  right  to  pre- 


6  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

vent.  We  must  ever  resist  the  asserted  right  of  any  State 
to  remain  in  the  Union  and  nullify  or  defy  the  laws  there 
of  ;  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  is  another  matter.  And 
when  a  section  of  our  Union  resolves  to  go  out,  we  shall 
resist  any  coercive  acts  to  keep  it  in.  We  hope  never  to 
live  in  a  Republic  where  one  section  is  pinned  to  the  other 
section  by  bayonets." — New  York  Tribune. 

IN  THE  REPUBLICAN  PLATFORM  that  elected  Abraham  Lincoln  is 
found : 

* '  The  inviolable  rights  of  each  State  to  order  iand  control 
its  own  domestic  institutions. ' ' 

CHARLES  BEECHER  STOWE,  the  son  of  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe, 
said: 

"When  the  South  drew  the  sword  to  defend  the  doctrine 
of  States  Rights  and  the  institution  of  slavery,  they  cer 
tainly  had  on  their  side  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of 
the  land  for  the  National  Constitution  justified  the  doc 
trine  of  States  Rights." 

Again,  CHARLES  BEECHER  STOWE  said : 

"Is  it  not  perfectly  evident  that  there  was  a  great  re 
bellion,  but  the  rebels  were  the  men  of  the  North,  and  the 
men  who  defended  the  Constitution  were  the  men  of  the 
South,  for  they  defended  States  Rights  and  slavery,  which 
were  distinctly  entrenched  within  the  Constitution." 

Timothy  Pickering,  of  Massachusetts,  was  the  first  to  threaten 
secession. 

Josiah  Quincy,  of  Massachusetts,  was  the  first  to  mention  se 
cession  in  Congressional  Halls — 1811. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  was  the  first  to  peti 
tion  Congress  to  dissolve  the  Union. 

Charles  Francis  Adams  testified  that  there  was  no  doubt  but 
that  his  grandfather,  John  Quincy  Adams,  believed  that  a  State 
had  the  right  to  secede. 

NEW  YORK  HERALD,  Nov.  11,  1860 : 

"The  South  has  an  undeniable  right  to  secede  from  the 
Union.  In  the  event  of  secession,  the  City  of  New  York, 
and  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and  very  likely  Connecticut 
will  separate  from  New  England  when  the  black  man  is  put 
on  a  pinnacle  above  the  white." 
GEORGE  LUNT'S  "Origin  of  the  Late  War": 

"Despairing  of  their  rights  in  the  Union,  the  Southern 
leaders  advised  the  Southern  States  to  throw  themselves 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  7 

back  on  their  reserved  rights  and  withdraw  from  the  Union 
— but  it  was  too  late. 

"This  could  have  been  done  in  1850  but  not  in  1861. 

"No  State  has  been  more  conspicuous  in  pressing  the 
claims  of  State  Rights  from  the  earliest  period  than  Massa 
chusetts.  ' ' 

GEORGE  LUNT  : 

* '  The  maintenance  of  the  authority  of  the  Stats  over  mat 
ters  purely  local  is  as  essential  to  the  preservation  of  our 
institutions  as  is  the  conservation  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
Federal  power  in  all  matters  entrusted  to  the  nation  by  the 
Federal  Constitution. 

"The  power  of  the  States  to  regulate  their  purely  in 
ternal  affairs  of  such  laws  as  seem  wise  to  the  local  author 
ity  is  inherent  and  has  never  been  surrendered  to  the  gen 
eral  government." 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  DAY,  in  a  Decision  of  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court, 
June  3,  1918 : 

"If  Congress  can  regulate  matters  entrusted  to  local  au 
thority,  the  power  of  the  States  may  be  eliminated  and  thus 
our  system  of  government  be  practically  destroyed." 


III. 
The  North  Was  Responsible  for  the  War  Between  the  States 

AUTHORITY : 
THE  NEW  YORK  HERALD,  April  7,  1861 : 

"Unless  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  makes  the  first 
demonstration  and  attack,  President  Davis  says  there  will 
be  no  bloodshed.  With  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration,  there 
fore,  rests  the  responsibility  of  precipitating  a  collision,  and 
the  fearful  evils  of  protracted  war." 

THE  NEW  YORK  HERALD,  April  5,  1861 : 

"We  have  no  doubt  Mr.  Lincoln  wants  the  Cabinet  at 
Montgomery  to  take  the  initiative  by  capturing  two  forts 
in  its  waters,  for  it  would  give  him  the  opportunity  of 
throwing  the  responsibility  of  commencing  hostilities.  But 
the  country  and  posterity  will  hold  him  just  as  responsible 
as  if  he  struck  the  first  blow. ' ' 

SHEPPARD'S  "Life  of  Lincoln" : 

"Please  present  my  compliments  to  General  Scott  and 
tell  him  confidentially  to  be  prepared  to  hold  or  retake  the 
forts  as  the  case  may  require  after  my  inauguration.  "- 
Abraham  Lincoln. 


8  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

HORTON  's  HISTORY,  p.  71 : 

* '  The  withdrawal  of  the  Southern  States  from  the  Union 
was  in  no  sense  a  declaration  of  war  upon  the  Federal  gov 
ernment  but  the  Federal  government  declared  war  on  them, 
as  history  will  show." 

GIDEON  WELLES: 

"There  was  not  a  man  in  the  Cabinet  that  did  not  know 
that   an  attempt  to  reinforce   Sumter  would  be  the  first 
blow  of  the  war." 
SEWARD  said : 

"Even  preparation  to  reinforce  will  precipitate  war." 
STEPHEN  DOUGLAS  said: 

"Lincoln  is  trying  to  plunge  the  country  into  a  cruel  war 
as  the  surest  means  of  destroying  the  Union  upon  the  plea 
of  enforcing  the  laws  and  protecting  public  property." 
ZACK  CHANDLER  wrote  to  Governor  Blair: 

"The  manufacturing  States  think  a  war  will  be  awful, 
but  without  a  little  blood-letting  the  Union  will  not  be  worth 
a  curse." 

GOVERNOR  MOORE,  of  Alabama  (Cousin  &  Hill,  p.  371),  says: 

"I  have  had  a  conference  with  Secretary  Mallory,  of 
Florida,  and  Secretary  Fitzpatrick,  of  Alabama,  in  which 
they  informed  me  that  they  and  Secretary  Sidell  had  a 
personal  interview  with  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of 
Navy  and  were  assured  by  them  that  no  attack  would  be 
made  upon  Fort  Sumter  and  Fort  Pickens  or  any  excuse 
given  for  the  shedding  of  blood  during  the  present  admin 
istration." 

GENERAL  BRAGG  (0.  R.  I.,  p.  457),  says: 

"They  have  placed  an  engineer  officer  at  Fort  Pickens 
to  violate,  as  I  consider,  our  agreement  not  to  reinforce.  I 
do  not  believe  that  we  are  entirely  absolved  from  all  agree 
ment  of  January  29." 

HORTON  's  HISTORY,  p.  109: 

"The  first  gun  of  the  war  was  the  gun  put  into  that  war 
fleet  that  sailed  against  Charleston.  The  first  gun  fired  at 
Fort  Sumter  was  the  first  gun  in  self-defense.  This  is  the 
simple  fact  stripped  of  all  nonsensical  with  which  it  has 
been  surrounded  by  Abolitionists." 

HOSMER,  "History  of  the  American  Nation,"  Vol.  XX,  p.  20: 

"The  determination  expressed  by  Lincoln  in  his  Inaug 
ural  Address  to  hold,  occupy  and  possess  the  property  and 
places  belonging  to  the  United  States  precipitated  the  out- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  9 

break,  and  his  determination  to  collect  duties  and  imports 
was  practically  an  announcement  of  an  offensive  war." 

WILLIAM  SEWARD  said : 

"The  attempt  to  reinforce  Sumter  will  provoke  war.  The 
very  preparation  of  such  an  expedition  will  precipitate  war. 
I  would  instruct  Anderson  to  return  from  Sumter." 

J.  G.  HOLLAND'S  "Life  of  Lincoln": 

"Up  to  the  fall  of  Sumter  Lincoln  had  no  basis  for  ac 
tion  in  the  public  feeling.  After  the  fall  of  Sumter  he 
could  act.' 

"Most  of  Lincoln's  ministers  were  against  the  reinforce 
ment  of  Fort  Sumter." 

MEDILL,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  says : 

"In  1864  when  the  call  for  extra  troops  came  Chicago 
revolted.  Chicago  had  sent  22,000  and  was  drained. 
There  were  no  young  men  to  go,  no  aliens,  except  what  was 
already  bought.  The  citizens  held  a  mass  meeting  and 
appointed  three  men  of  whom  I  (Medill)  was  one  to  go  to 
Washington  and  ask  Stanton  to  give  Cook  County  a  new 
enrollment.  He  refused.  Then  we  went  to  President  Lin 
coln.  'I  cannot  do  it,'  said  Lincoln,  'but  I  will  go  with  you 
to  Stanton  and  hear  the  arguments  on  both  sides.' 

"So  we  went  over  to  the  War  Department  together. 
Stanton  and  General  Frye  were  there  and  they  both  con 
tended  that  the  quota  should  not  be  changed.  The  argu 
ment  went  on  for  some  time,  and  was  finally  referred  to 
Lincoln  who  had  been  silently  listening.  When  appealed  to, 
Lincoln  turned  to  us  with  a  black  and  frowning  face : 
1  Gentlemen,'  he  said,  with  a  voice  full  of  bitterness,  'after 
Boston,  Chicago  has  been  the  chief  instrument  in  bringing 
this  war  on  the  country.  The  Northwest  opposed  the  South, 
as  New  England  opposed  the  South.  It  is  you,  Medill,  who 
is  largely  responsible  for  making  blood  flow  as  it  has.  You 
called  for  war  until  you  had  it.  I  have  given  it  to  you. 
What  you  have  asked  for  you  have  had.  Now  you  come 
here  begging  to  be  let  off  from  the  call  for  more  men,  which 
I  have  made  to  carry  on  the  war  you  demanded.  You  ought 
to  be  ashamed  of  yourselves.  Go  home  and  raise  your 
6,000  men."--Tarbeirs  "Life  of  Lincoln/'  Vol.  II.,  p.  144. 

THE  NEW  YORK  EXPRESS  April  15,  1861,  said : 

"The  people  petitioned  and  pleaded,  begged  and  im 
plored  Lincoln  and  Seward  to  be  heard  before  matters 
were  brought  to  a  blood  extreme,  but  their  petitions  were 
spurned  and  treated  with  contempt." 


10  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

IN  "The  Opening  of  the  Twentieth  Century"  these  words  are 
found : 

"The  war  was  inaugurated  by  the  North,  and  defended 
on  an  unconstitutional  basis." 

/HALLAM 's  ' '  Constitutional  History ' ' : 

"The  aggressor  in  war  is  not  the  first  who  uses  force,  but 
the  first  who  renders  force  necessary." 

BENJAMIN  WILLIAMS,  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  said: 

"The  South  was  invaded  and  a  war  of  subjugation  was 
begun  by  the  Federal  government  against  the  seceding 
States  in  amazing  disregard  of  the  foundation  principle  of 
its  existence — and  the  South  accepts  the  contest  forced 
upon  her  with  a  courage  characteristic  of  this  proud-spirit 
ed  people. 

"The  North  had  no  Constitutional  right  to  hold  Fort 
Sumter  in  case  the  States  seceded  and  to  hold  it  meant  war." 

HORTON,  pp.  71,  72: 

"The  forts  in  the  South  were  partnership  property;  and 
each  State  was  an  equal  party  in  ownership.  The  Federal 
government  was  only  a  general  agent  of  the  real  partners — 
the  States — which  composed  the  Union.  The  forts  were  de 
signed  to  protect  the  States,  and  in  case  of  withdrawal  of  a 
State  the  forts  went  with  the  State. 

"South  Carolina  could  not  deprive  New  York  of  her 
forts,  nor  could  New  York  deprive  South  Carolina  of  hers. 
The  seceding  States  were  perfectly  willing  to  settle  matters 
in  a  friendly  way.  They  were  striving  only  to  resume  the 
powers  they  had  delegated." 

SENATOR  JOSEPH  LANE,  of  Oregon,  in  reply  to  Andrew  Johnson 
in  regard  to  the  Crittenden  Resolution  (Congressional  Globe, 
36th  Congress,  p.  1347),  said: 

"If  there  is,  as  I  contend,  a  right  for  secession,  then  when 
ever  a  State  exercises  that  right  this  Government  has  no 
laws  to  execute  in  that  State,  nor  has  it  any  property  in 
such  State  that  can  be  protected  by  the  power  of  that  Gov 
ernment.  ' ' 

JOHN  CODMAN  ROPES,  in  his  "Story  of  the  Civil  War/'  says: 

"The  South  claimed  that  she  had  the  right  to  demand  the 
forts,  arsenals  and  government  property  in  her  States — 
these  were  her  sovereign  rights.  If  South  Carolina  had  this 
sovereign  right  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  fort  within 
her  jurisdiction,  and  it  belonged  to  South  Carolina  as  soon 
as  she  resumed  her  sovereign  right,  then  President  Lincoln 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  11 

had  no  right  to  hold  it  against  her  demand — nor  to  arm  or 
provision  it  by  force.  The  U.  S.  Government  could  not 
have  erected  it  on  South  Carolina's  soil  without  South  Car 
olina's  consent,  and  the  action  of  Lincoln  was  that  of  cen 
tralized  despotism.  Governor  Pickens  sent  I.  W.  Hayne, 
the  Attorney  General  of  South  Carolina,  to  President 
Buchanan  saying  that  the  fort  was  necessary  for  the  pro 
tection  of  the  State  it  was  erected  to  protect — and  that 
South  Carolina  was  willing  to  pay  a  full  valuation  in  settle 
ment  between  the  State  and  the  government." 

JOHN  CODMAN  ROPES,  in  his  "Story  of  the  Civil  War/'  pp.  17, 
18,  again  says: 

"The  States  which  seceded  held,  it  must  be  remembered, 
the  theory  that  the  United  States  was  not  a  single  nation, 
but  a  collection  of  nations,  which  had  for  many  years  acted 
for  certain  purposes  through  an  agency  known  as  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States.  To  this  government  tracts 
of  land  had  been  ceded  by  the  different  States,  that  on  them 
might  be  erected  light-houses,  forts,  arsenals,  court-houses, 
post  offices,  and  the  like,  all  subserving  the  general  welfare, 
and  particularly,  that  of  the  State  making  the  cession. 
These  buildings  had  all  been  erected  at  the  public  expense, 
and  by  the  general  government.  The  munitions  of  war, 
the  money,  the  public  property,  contained  in  them  belonged 
to  the  general  government  as  the  agent  of  all  the  States 
united.  They  were,  so  to  speak,  partnership  property,  and 
the  title  to  this  property  stood  in  the  name  of  the  agent  of 
all  the  parties  belonging  to  the  firm. 

"If  this  view  of  the  matter  had  been  accepted,  and  the 
right  of  the  State  to  secede  had  been  conceded  there  is  no 
doubt  that  it  would  have  been  generally  granted  that  the 
forts,  arsenals,  post  offices  and  other  public  buildings  lying 
within  the  State  which  withdrew  from  the  Union  ought  to 
have  been  turned  over  to  that  State. 

"The  South  knowing  she  had  the  right  to  secede  took  this 
view  of  the  question  and  seized  the  property." 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS  said : 

"Here  are  a  series  of  States  girding  the  Gulf  which  think 
they  should  have  an  independent  government :  they  have  the 
right  to  decide  this  question  without  appealing  to  you  or 
to  me. 

"Let  the  South  go!  Let  her  go  with  flags  flying  and 
trumpets  blowing!  Give  her  her  forts,  her  arsenals,  and 
her  sub-treasuries.  Speed  the  parting  guest !  All  hail  do 
minion  !  Beautiful  on  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  them 
who  bring  the  glad  tidings  of  disunion." 


12  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

SENATOR  LANE,  again  says : 

"No,  Sir,  the  policy  of  this  government  is  to  inveigle  the 
people  of  the  North  into  civil  war  by  making  the  design  in 
smooth  and  ambiguous  terms." 

GEORGE  LUNT  says : 

"The  Relief  Squadron  which  was  twenty-three  days  get 
ting  ready  at  Norfolk  (while  the  peace  commissioners  were 
kept  waiting  in  Washington)  bore  the  aspect  certainly  of 
a  manoeuvre,  which  military  persons  denominate  'stealing 
a  march!'  : 

"History  will  record  that  the  woes  and  sacrifices  caused 
by  the  war  might  have  been  saved  by  a  little  manliness  on 
the  part  of  the  Republican  leaders  at  this  time." 

GEORGE  LUNT,  "Origin  of  Late  War/'  p.  485: 

"The  external  aspect  of  the  affair  off  Charleston  which 
precipitated  the  war  is  that  of  a  boy  'spoiling  for  a  fight' 
who  places  a  chip  on  the  rim  of  his  hat,  and  dares  his  com 
petitor  to  knock  it  off." 

PERCY  GREGG,  p.  158 : 

"The  Government  was  bound  in  honor  to  hand  over  to 
the  seceding  States  their  fair  share  of  armaments  created 
at  common  expense." 

GEORGE  LUNT  : 

"In  1833  there  was  a  surplus  revenue  of  many  millions  in 
the  public  treasury  which  by  an  act  of  legislation  unparal- 
led  in  the  history  of  nations  was  distributed  among  the 
Northern  States  to  be  used  for  local  public  improvements." 

PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN,  in  his  message  to  Congress,  said : 

"The  South  had  not  had  her  share  of  money  from  the 
treasury,  and  unjust  discrimination  had  been  made  against 
her  in  coast  defenses." 

JOHN  CODMAN  ROPES,  pp.  17  and  18 : 

"For  many  years  before  1860  the  Federal  Government 
had  all  rifles  and  muskets  manufactured  near  Troy,  N.  Y., 
to  be  deposited  in  Northern  arsenals,  so  all  the  new  guns 
were  in  possession  of  the  North.  After  the  attack  by  John 
Brown  it  was  suggested  that  the  South 's  quota  of  arms 
should  be  distributed,  and  Secretary  Floyd  then  ordered 
the  guns  sent  to  the  arsenals  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  the 
arsenals  in  North  Carolina,  Augusta,  Ga.,  Mt.  Vernon,  Ala., 
and  Baton  Rouge,  La.  This  was  before  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  nominated.  This  was  done  by  an  act  of  the  Federal 
Government — not  by  any  Southern  statesman  with  any 
thought  of  war." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  13 

The  unpreparedness  for  war,  when  war  came,  shows  that  the 
South  did  not  even  then  receive  anything  like  her  just  propor 
tion. 

SEE  Congressional  Records » 

"It  was  a  Pittsburg  manufacturer  that  selfishly  lobbied 
a  bill  through  Congress  for  cannon  to  arm  the  unfurnished 
Southern  forts.  The  bill  was  passed  by  the  friends  of  the 
iron  founders,  without  the  knowledge  of  or  solicitation  of 
Secretary  Floyd." 

"Secretary  Floyd  simply  obeyed  Congress  and  ordered 
the  arms  sent  but  Secretary  Holt,  hearing  of  it,  stopped  the 
shipment,  so  the  South  never  received  the  arms." 

PERCY  GREGG,  p.  158,  says : 

"The  Government  was  bound  in  honor  to  hand  over  to 
the  seceding  States  their  full  share  of  armaments  created  at 
common  expense." 


IV. 

The  War  Between  the  States  Was  Not  Fought  to  Hold  the 

Slaves 

AUTHORITY: 

A  RESOLUTION  was  passed  unanimously  by  Congress  July  23, 
1861: 

"The  war  is  waged  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  not  in  the  spirit  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  nor  for 
the  purpose  of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the  rights 
or  institutions  of  the  states,  but  to  defend  and  protect  the 
Union." 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  in  his  Inaugural  Address : 

' '  I  have  no  purpose  directly  or  indirectly  to  interfere  with 
the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I 
believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  in 
clination  to  do  so." 

GEORGE  LUNT'S  "Origin  of  the  Late  War,"  p.  432: 

"A  war  simply  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  would  not 
have  enlisted  a  dozen  regiments  at  the  North." 

Unanswerable  arguments  will  be  found  in  the  facts  that  a 
slaveholder,  General  U.  S.  Grant,  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
Union  Army,  and  General  Robert  E.  Lee  who  had  freed  his 


14  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

slaves  put  in  command  of  the  Confederate  forces.  Two  hun 
dred  thousand  slaveholders  only  were  in  the  Southern  Army 
while  three  hundred  and  fifteten  thousand  slaveholders  were  in 
the  Northern  Army. 

GENERAL  GRANT  (Democratic  Speaker's  Handbook,  p.  33),  said: 
"Should  I  become  convinced  that  the  object  of  the  Gov 
ernment   is   to   execute   the   wishes   of   the   abolitionists,   I 
pledge  you  my  honor  as  a  man  and  a  soldier  I  would  re 
sign  my  commission  and  carry  my  sword  to  the  other  side. 

SIMON  CAMERON,  Lincoln's  Secretary  of  War,  wrote  to  General 
Butler  in  New  Orleans: 

"President  Lincoln  desires  the  right  to  hold  slaves  to  be 
fully  recognized.  The  war  is  prosecuted  for  the  Union 
hence  no  question  concerning  slavery  will  arise. ' ' 

GOVERNOR   WILLIAM    SPRAGUE,   Rhode   Island's   war    Governor, 
said: 

"We  had  to  take  a  lot  of  abuse  in  return  for  an  endorse 
ment  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation. 
We  were  hissed  in  the  streets  and  denounced  as  traitors.." 

JAMES  FORD  RHODES,  Vol.  IV,  p.  73 : 

' '  A  large  portion  of  our  regular  officers  with  many  of  the 
volunteers  evidence  far  more  solicitude  to  uphold  slavery 
than  to  put  down  the  rebellion." 

PERCY  GREGG: 

"To  say  that  the  South  seceded  and  fought  to  hold  her 
slaves  is  to  accuse  her  of  political  imbecility." 

CHANNING'S  "Short  History  of  the  United  States": 

"The  Union  Army  showed  the  greatest  sympathy  with 
McClellan  for  the  bold  protest  against  emancipation.  Five 
States,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York 
went  against  Lincoln  on  this  account.  While  Lincoln  felt 
he  could  free  the  slaves  as  a  war  measure,  he  knew  the 
North  would  not  approve  of  freeing  them. ' ' 

GEORGE  LUNT,  "Origin  of  the  Late  War": 

"Had  not  the  Constitution  provided  for  representation 
and  taxation  based  on  slave  labor,  and  for  the  restoration 
of  the  fugitive  slave  there  would  have  been  no  war — slavery 
was  only  an  incident  out  of  which  grew  questions  regard 
ing  State  rights  and  rights  of  Territories  seeking  to  become 
States.  But  whether  slavery  was  here  rightfully  or  wrong- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  15 

fully  it  was  here  under  the  protection  of  the  law  and  not 
subject  to  be  taken  away  by  violence  or  any  insidious  device 
of  abstraction." 
GEORGE  LUNT  again  says,  p.  10  (Introduction)  : 

' l  In  presenting  the  causes  which  led  to  the  war,  it  will  be 
seen  that  slavery,  though  an  occasion  was  not  in  reality  the 
cause  of  the  war. ' ' 
GEORGE  LUNT,  p.  XII,  (Introduction)  : 

' '  Disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  South  led  to  an  unnatural 
war,  and  the  policy  wrought  an  irreparable  injury,  if  not 
absolute  ruin  of  the  unhappy  race  they  professed  to  love." 

GEORGE  LUNT,  p.  XI,  (Introduction)  : 

"Anti-slavery  was  of  no  serious  consequence  until  poli 
ticians  seized  upon  it  as  an  instrument  of  agitation — an 
alleged  diversity  of  interests  between  the  sections  involving 
political  power." 

CHASE,  then  Secretary  of  War  under  Lincoln,  said : 

"Not  ivar  upon  slavery  within  those  limits,  but  fixed  op 
position  to  its  extension  beyond  them.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the 
candidate  of  the  people  not  for  abolition  but  as  opposed  to 
the  extension  of  slavery." 

V. 

Slaves  Were  Not  Ill-Treated  in  the  South.     The  North  Was 
Largely  Responsible  for  Their  Presence  in  the  South. 

AUTHORITY: 

The  servants  were  very  happy  in  their  life  upon  the  old  planta 
tions.  WILLIAM  MAKEPEACE  THACKERAY,  on  a  lecture  tour  in 
America,  visited  a  Southern  plantation.  In  "Roundabout 
Papers"  he  gives  this  impression  of  the  slaves: 

"How  they  sang !  How  they  danced !  How  they  laughed  ! 
How  they  shouted !  How  they  bowed  and  scraped  and  com 
plimented  !  So  free,  so  happy !  I  saw  them  dressed  on  Sun 
day  in  their  Sunday  best — far  better  dressed  than  our 
English  tenants  of  the  working  class  are  in  their  holiday 
attire.  To  me,  it  is  the  dearest  institution  I  have  ever  seen 
and  these  slaves  seem  far  better  off  than  any  tenants  I  have 
seen  under  any  other  tenantry  system." 

MAJOR  GENERAL  QUITMAN  of  the  United  States  Army  thus  de 
scribed  life  on  the  "Old  Plantation"  in  1822  while  stationed  in 
Mississippi : 

The  mansions  of  the  planters  are  thrown  open  to  all 
comers  and  goers  free  of  charge.  The  owner  of  this  planta- 


16  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

tion  is  the  widow  of  a  Virginia  gentleman  of  distinction, 
who  was  an  officer  in  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain. 

"Her  slaves  are  a  happy,  careless,  unreflecting,  good  na- 
tured  race.  They  are  strongly  attached  to  'old  massa,'  and 
'old  missus' ;  but  their  devotion  to  'young  massa'  and  'young 
missus'  amounts  to  enthusiasm.  While  in  a  way  these  slaves 
appear  to  be  free,  they  are  very  obedient  and  polite  and 
they  do  their  work  well. 

"These  'niggers,'  as  you  call  them,  are  the  happiest  peo 
ple  I  have  ever  seen.  They  are  oily,  sleek,  bountifully  fed, 
well  clothed  and  well  taken  care  of.  One  hears  them  at  all 
times  whistling  and  singing  cheerily  at  their  work 

"But  a  negro  will  sleep — sleep  at  his  work,  sleep  on  his 
carriage  box,  sleep  standing  up,  sleep  bare-headed  in  the 
sun,  and  sleep  sitting  on  a  high  rail  fence.  Yet,  compared 
with  the  ague-smitten  and  suffering  settlers  in  Ohio,  or  the 
sickly,  half-starved  operatives  in  the  factories  and  mines  of 
the  North  and  the  Northeast,  these  Southern  slaves  are  in 
deed  to  be  envied.  They  are  treated  with  such  great  hu 
manity  and  kindness." 

CHAS.  E.  STOWE,  the  son  of  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  in  speaking 
at  a  negro  college,  said : 

"If  you  ask  me  if  the  slaves  were  better  off  under  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery  than  they  are  under  freedom,  I  must  in 
candor  answer  that  some  were — they  were  not  fit  for  free 
dom." 
Again,  he  said : 

"If  slavery  was  an  unutterably  evil  institution  how  can 
you  account  for  the  faithfulness  of  the  negroas  on  the  plan 
tations  when  the  men  were  at  the  front,  and  no  act  of  vio 
lence  known  among  them?" 

AN  EMINENT  PENNSYLVANIA  LAWYER  said: 

"An  institution  that  could  produce  the  Christian  fidelity 
of  'Uncle  Tom,'  the  faithful  tenderness  of  'Aunt  Chloe.'  and 
the  patience  and  love  of  'Eva's  Mammy'  must  be  indeed  a 
great  one!" 

AMERICAN  AUTHORS,  p.  492 : 

"Slavery  transformed  the  savage  negro  into  a  civilized 
man ;  it  taught  him  to  work,  and  showed  him  what  could  be 
accomplished  by  the  labor  of  his  hands;  and  then  it  left 
him  as  a  free  man  with  almost  a  monopoly  of  the  field  in 
which  he  had  been  employed  as  a  slave.  In  1865  no  other 
body  of  negroes  in  the  world  occupied  as  advantageous  a  po 
sition  economically  as  those  in  the  Southern  States." 

"After  100  years  of  Southern  civilization,  the  North  voted 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  17 

him  the  equal  of  the  white  man  socially  and  politically — a 
marvelous  tribute  to  the  civilization  of  the  Old  South." 

If  African  slavery  was  a  sin,  the  Spaniards  and  English  were 
the  sinners.  It  is  true  the  slave  trade  in  the  United  States  was 
begun  by  Massachusetts,  and  in  the  main  carried  on  by  her,  not 
as  a  private  enterprise,  but  by  the  authority  of  the  Plymouth 
Rock  Colony.  (Colonial  Entry  Book,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  724) 

The  statute  of  establishing  perpetual  slavery  was  adopted  by 
Massachusetts,  December,  1641.  (Massachusetts  Historical  Col 
lections,  VIII.,  p.  231). 

The  slave  ship  Desire  sailed  from  Marblehead,  Mass.,  and  was 
the  first  to  sail  from  any  English  colony  in  America  to  capture 
Africans. 

The  first  State  to  legislate  in  favor  of  the  slave  trade  was 
Massachusetts. 

The  first  State  to  urge  a  fugitive  slave  law  was  Massachusetts. 
(Moore's  History  of  Slavery). 

The  last  State  to  legislate  against  the  slave  trade  was  Massa 
chusetts.  The  British  Encyclopedia  says  New  Jersey. 

The  last  slave  ship  to  sail  from  the  United  States  was  the 
Nightingale  from  Massachusetts  in  1861.  She  secured  a  cargo  of 
900  Africans,  and  was  captured  by  the  Saratoga  under  Captain 
Guthrie,  April  21,  1861,  after  Fort  Sumter  had  been  fired  on. 
There  is  no  record  that  any  punishment  followed  this  violation 
of  the  law. 

"The  Cradle  of  Liberty,"  Fanueil  Hall,  in  Boston,  was  built 
by  Peter  Faneuil,  its  owner,  from  slave  trade  money. 

Girard  College,  in  Philadelphia,  was  built  by  Stephen  Girard 
with  money  made  by  African  slaves  on  a  Louisiana  plantation. 

The  slaveholder  has  been  accused  of  cruelty  in  separating 
mother  and  child  on  the  slave  block.  The  selling  of  slaves  in  the 
South  did  not  separate  mother  and  child  as  often  or  with  such 
cruelty  as  did  the  slave  traffic  in  Africa — as  did  the  hiding  of 
the  fugitive  slave  from  their  owners — as  did  the  "Exodus  Or 
der"  in  Reconstruction  days. 

White  slavery  in  the  North  today  is  responsible  for  far  more 
evils  than  ever  came  from  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  South. 

The  Southern  planter  has  been  accused  of  cruelty  to  his  slaves 
— no  cruelty  on  the  part  of  any  overseer  can  compare  to  that  of 


18  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

the  middle  passage  on  the  slave  ships,  where,  on  that  long  voy 
age,  they  were  huddled  as  standing  cattle  and  suffered  from  hun 
ger  and  thirst  so  that  they  died  by  the  hundreds,  or  cast  them 
selves  overboard. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  no  Southern  man  ever  owned  a 
slave  ship.  No  Southern  man  ever  commanded  a  slave  ship. 
No  Southern  man  ever  went  to  Africa  for  slaves. 

General  Lee  said,  "  There  was  no  doubt  that  the  blacks  were 
immeasurably  better  off  here  than  they  were  in  Africa — morally, 
physically  and  socially."  He  thought  the  freeing  of  them 
should  be  left  in  God's  hands  and  not  be  settled  by  tempestuous 
controversy. 

The  South  has  been  vilified  for  not  educating  the  negro  in  the 
days  of  slavery. 

The  South  was  giving  to  the  negro  the  best  possible  education 
—that  education  that  fitted  him  for  the  workshop,  the  field,  the 
church,  the  kitchen,  the  nursery,  the  home.  This  was  an  educa 
tion  that  taught  the  negro  self-control,  obedience  and  persever 
ance — yes,  taught  him  to  realize  his  weaknesses  and  how  to  grow 
stronger  for  the  battle  of  life.  The  institution  of  slavery  as  it 
was  in  the  South,  so  far  from  degrading  the  negro,  was  fast 
elevating  him  above  his  nature  and  his  race. 

No  higher  compliment  was  ever  paid  the  institution  of  slavery 
than  that  by  the  North,  which  was  willing  to  make  the  negro  its 
social  and  political  equal  after  one  hundred  years  of  civilization 
under  Southern  Christianizing  influence.  Never  has  it  been 
recorded  in  history  such  rapid  civilization  from  savagery  to 
Christian  citizenship. 

The  black  man  ought  to  thank  the  institution  of  slavery — the 
easiest  road  that  any  slave  people  have  ever  passed  from  savagery 
to  civilization  with  the  kindest  and  most  humane  masters.  Hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  the  slaves  in  1865  were  professing  Chris 
tians  and  many  were  partaking  of  the  communion  in  the  church 
of  their  masters. — "Civilization  of  the  Old  South/'  Historian- 
General,  U.  D.  C.,  Dallas,  Texas. 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  19 

Coercion  Was  Not  Constitutional 
AUTHORITY : 

WILLIAM  SEWARD  to  London  Times  Correspondent,  Mr.  Russell, 
April  4,  1861 : 

"It  would  be  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  American  Gov 
ernment  to  use  force  to  subjugate  the  South." 

MR.  SEWARD  to  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Sr.,  Minister  to  Eng 
land,  April  10,  1861 : 

"Only  a  despotic  and  imperial  government  car  Coerce 
seceding  States." 

EDWARD  EVERETT: 

"To  try  to  hold  fifteen  States  to  the  Union  is  preposter 
ous." 

PRESIDENT  JAMES  BUCHANAN  to  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary 
of  War : 

"There  is  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to  coerce  a 
seceding  State." 

THE  NEW  YORK  HERALD  : 

' '  The  day  before  Fort  Sumter  was  surrendered  two-thirds 
of  the  newspapers  in  the  North  opposed  coercion  in  any 
shape  or  form,  and  sympathized  with  the  South.  Three- 
fifths  of  the  entire  American  people  sympathized  with  the 
South.  Over  200,000  voters  opposed  coercion  and  believed 
the  South  had  a  right  to  secede." 

"The  Journal  of  Commerce  fought  coercion  until  the 
United  States  mail  refused  to  carry  its  papers  in  1861." 

CHARLES  SUMNER  said : 

"Nothing  can  possibly  be  so  horrible,  so  wicked  or  so 
foolish  as  a  war  against  the  South. ' ' 

JAMES  S.  THAYER,  of  New  York,  on  January  21,  1861,  said : 

"If  the  incoming  Administration  shall  attempt  to  carry 
out  a  line  of  policy  which  has  been  foreshadowed,  and  con 
struct  a  scaffold  for  coercion — another  name  for  execution 
—we  will  reverse  the  order  of  the  French  Revolution  and 
save  the  blood  of  the  people  by  making  those  who  would  in 
augurate  a  'Reign  of  Terror'  the  first  victim  of  a  national 
guillotine."  (Enthusiastic  applause). 


20  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

CHARLES  BEECHER  STOWE  said: 

''Many  patriotic  men  of  the  South  who  cared  little  or 
nothing  about  slavery  were  stirred  with  the  deepest  indig 
nation  at  the  suggestion  of  the  National  government  sub 
duing  a  sovereign  State  by  force  of  arms,  and  said  that  a 
Union  that  could  only  be  held  together  by  bayonets  had  bet 
ter  be  dissolved;  and  for  the  principle  of  State  rights  and 
State  sovereignty  the  Southern  men  fought  with  a  holy 
ardor  and  self-denying  patriotism  that  have  covered  even 
defeat  with  imperishable  glory. ' ' 

JAMES  BUCHANAN'S  MESSAGE,  December  3,  1860: 

"Congress  may  possess  many  means  of  preserving  the 
Union  by  conciliation,  but  the  sword  was  not  placed  in  its 
hand  to  preserve  it  by  force. ' ' 

LINCOLN,  when  asked  how  he  could  advocate  coercion,  replied: 

"What  is  to  become  of  my  revenue  in  New  York  if  there 
is  a  ten  per  cent,  tariff  at  Charleston  ? ' ' 

GEORGE  LUNT  : 

"The  majority  in  the  North  believed  that  Lincoln  had 
no  right  to  coerce  the  States." 

IN  THE  AMERICAN  STATESMEN  SERIES,  Morse  in  Vol.  II.,  "Life 
of  Abraham  Lincoln/'  says: 

"History  is  crowded  with  tales  of  despots,  but  of  no 
despot  who  thought  or  decided  with  the  taciturn  independ 
ence  which  marked  this  president  of  the  Free  American 
Republic  in  regard  to  coercing  seceding  States." 

IN  THE  PLATFORM  of  the  Republican  Party  is  found  this  state 
ment: 

"We  denounce  the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  the 
soil  of  any  State  or  Territory,  no  matter  what  pretext,  as 
among  the  gravest  crimes. ' ' 

SENATOR  TRUMBULL,  of  Illinois,  the  special  expositor  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  views,  said  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate: 

"Congress  adjourned  without  taking  action  on  coercion, 
showing,  of  course,  the  prevalent  opinion  on  the  Constitu 
tional  question."  (Carpenter's  "Logic  of  History,"  p.  50). 

HORACE  GREELEY,  "American  Conflict,"  p.  513: 

"  There  was  not  a  moment  when  a  large  portion  of  the 
Northern  Democracy  were  not  hostile  to  any  form  or  shade . 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  21 

of  coercion.  Many  openly  condemned  and  stigmatized  a 
war  on  the  South  as  atrocious,  unjustifiable,  and  ag 
gressive." 

EX-GOVERNOR  REYNOLDS,  Illinois,  December  28,  1860 : 

"I  am  heart  and  soul  with  the  South.     She  is  right  in 
principle  from  the  Constitution." 


VII. 

The  Federal  Government  Was  Responsible  for  the  Anderson- 

ville  Horrors 

AUTHORITY : 

CHARLES  A.  DANA,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  said : 

' '  We  think  after  the  testimony  given  that  the  Confederate 
authorities  and  especially  Mr.  Davis  ought  not  to  be  held 
responsible  for  the  terrible  privations,  suffering,  and  in 
juries  which  our  men  had  to  endure  while  kept  in  Confed 
erate  Military  Prisons,  the  fact  is  unquestionable  that  while 
Confederates  desired  to  exchange  prisoners,  to  send  our 
men  home,  and  to  get  back  their  own  men,  General  Grant 
steadily  and  strenuously  resisted  such  an  exchange." — New 
York  Sun. 

GENERAL  BUTLER  said : 

"The  reason  for  this  was  that  the  exchange  of  prisoners 
would  strengthen  Lee's  army  and  greatly  prolong  the  war." 

GENERAL  GRANT  said : 

"Not  to  take  any  steps  by  which  an  able-bodied  man 
should  be  exchanged  until  orders  were  received  from  him." 

Secretary  of  War  Edwin  M.  Stanton's  statistics  testify  that 
while  there  were  fifty  thousand  more  of  prisoners  in  Southern 
prisons  than  in  Northern,  the  mortality  among  Southern  men  in 
Northern  prisons  was  far  greater. 

GENERAL  GRANT,  again,  said : 

If  we  hold  these  men  caught  they  are  no  more  than  dead 
men.  If  we  liberate  them  we  will  have  to  fight  on  until  the 
whole  South  is  exterminated." 

This  agrees  with  GENERAL  LEE'S  testimony  (Official  Records  War 
of  the  Rebellion]  : 

"I  offered  General  Grant  to  send  into  his  lines  all  of  the 


22  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

prisoners  within  my  Department  provided  he  would  return 
man  for  man.  When  I  notified  the  Confederate  authorities 
of  my  proposition,  I  was  told  if  accepted  they  would  gladly 
place  at  my  disposal  every  man  in  our  Southern  prisons.  I 
also  made  this  offer  to  the  Committee  of  the  United  States 
Sanitary  Commission — but  my  propositions  were  not  ac 
cepted/' 

There  was  never  any  trouble  about  lack  of  provisions  at  An- 
dersonville,  as  has  been  so  often  stated.  There  was  an  abundant 
supply  of  the  rations  that  the  soldiers  and  prisoners  needed,  but 
the  trouble  came  because  of  the  over-crowded  condition  of  the 
stockade.  It  was  made  for  10,000  and  in  four  months  29,000 
were  sent. 

There  were  6,000  sick  in  the  hospitals  at  one  time  and  no  med 
icine — the  first  time  in  the  history  of  wars  when  medicine  was 
made  contraband  of  war. 

MEDICINE  CONTRABAND  OF  WAR.    (See  Dr.  Gardner's  testimony). 

"The  United  States  government  early  declared  by  procla 
mation  or  order  all  medicines,  surgical  instruments  and  ap 
pliances  contraband  of  war,  and  they  were  so  regarded  to 
the  end  of  the  struggle. 

*  *  The  ill  temper  and  inhumanity  of  the  time  in  the  North 
extended  even  to  the  medical  profession,  as  evidenced  at  the 
convention  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  held  in 
Chicago,  in  1863,  when  Dr.  Gardner,  of  New  York,  intro 
duced  preamble  and  resolutions  petitioning  the  Northern 
government  to  repeal  the  orders  declaring  medical  and  sur 
gical  appliances  contraband  of  war;  arguing  that  such  cru 
elty  rebounded  on  their  own  soldiers,  many  of  whom,  as 
prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  Confederates,  shared  the  suf 
fering  resulting  from  such  a  policy,  while  the  act  itself  was 
worthy  the  dark  ages  of  the  world's  history.  It  is  lament 
able  to  have  to  record  that  this  learned  and  powerful  asso 
ciation  of  the  medical  men  then  limited  to  the  North,  for 
getful  of  the  noble  and  unselfish  teachings  of  the  healing 
art,  in  their  senseless  passion  hissed  their  benevolent  brother 
from  the  hall. 

"The  Northern  government  also  resisted  all  efforts  to 
effect  a  satisfactory  agreement  regarding  the  exchange  of 
prisoners;  only  closing  its  eyes  and  pretending  not  to  be 
aware  of  the  informal  agreements  of  opposing  generals  in 
the  field  as  to  the  exchange  of  prisoners  in  their  hands,  re 
spectively,  till  July  22,  1862,  when  a  general  cartel  was 
agreed  upon  by  the  two  governments,  but  which  was  never 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  23 

carried  out  satisfactorily,  and,  in  1864,  was  practically  sus 
pended  altogether ;  so  that  even  the  great  prisons  became  in 
adequate  for  the  increased  demands  upon  them.  Had  there 
been  satisfactory  agreement  and  good  faith  in  carrying  out 
the  cartels,  Andersonville  would  not  have  been  established, 
and  there  would  have  been  avoided  that  distressing  calam 
ity  ;  and  the  effort  which  grew  out  of  it  to  blacken  the  char 
acter  of  President  Davis,  and  the  persecution  of  Major 
Henry  Wirz,  and  his  cruel  execution  by  hanging.  Justice 
has  never  been  done  that  noble  heroism  which  resisted  and 
spurned  the  base  and  formidable  bribe  of  life  and  liberty, 
and  held  fast  to  the  truth.  The  Southern  people  should  ever 
hold  his  memory  dear." 

There  were  not  enough  vessels  in  which  the  food  could  be 
properly  prepared  and  served,  and  the  Confederate  authorities 
were  powerless,  for  they  could  not  obtain  these  vessels  to  supply 
the  need. 

GENERAL  BUTLER  says  on  pp.  593,  594  of  his  book : 

If  the  Confederates  should  be  released  and  should  join 
Lee  they  would  probably  bring  failure  to  General  Grant's 
operations.  If  on  the  other  hand,  they  were  released  and 
should  join  Sherman  they  would  turn  the  scales  against 
him." 

In  other  words  it  was  safer  to  allow  the  soldiers  to  remain 
in  Confederate  pens,  no  matter  how  great  their  suffering,  than 
to  liberate  those  Confederates. 

GEORGE  SHEA  in  a  letter  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  January  24, 
1876,  said : 

"Mr.  Horace  Greeley  received  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Jefferson 
Davis  June  22,  1865,  imploring  him  to  bring  about  a  speedy 
trial  of  her  husband  upon  the  charge  of  assassination  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  the  supposed  cruelties  at  Anderson 
ville  Prison." 

A  public  trial  was  prayed  in  order  that  the  accusations  might 
be  publicly  met,  and  her  husband  speedily  vindicated. 

CHARLES  A.  DANA,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  said  in  the  New 
York  Sun: 

Mr.  Greeley  came  to  my  residence  and  placed  the  letter  in 
my  hands,  saying  he  personally  did  not  believe  the  charge 
of  complicity  in  the  assassination  of  Lincoln  to  be  true,  and 
that  Mr.  Davis  could  be  released. 


24  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

"We  called  Mr.  Greeley's  attention  to  the  charge  against 
Mr.  Davis  of  cruel  treatment  of  Union  soldiers  at  Anderson- 
ville. 

* '  There  was  a  general  opinion  among  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Republican  party  that  Mr.  Davis  did  not  by  thought  or  act 
participate  in  a  conspiracy  against  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  none 
were  more  emphatic  than  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens. 

"The  only  remaining  charge,  then,  was  the  cruel  treat 
ment  of  the  Andersonville  prisoners,  so  at  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Greeley,  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Stevens,  I  went  to 
Canada  to  examine  the  official  archives  of  the  Confederate 
States.  From  these  documents,  not  meant  for  public  eyes, 
but  used  in  secret  session,  it  was  evident  that  Mr.  Davis 
was  not  guilty  of  that  charge.  I  reported  this  at  once  to 
Mr.  Greeley. 

On  November  9,  1866,  this  notice,  evidently  written  by 
him,  appeared  in  The  Tribune: 

"  'Eighteen  months  have  nearly  elapsed  since  Jefferson 
Davis  was  made  a  State  prisoner.  He  has  been  publicly 
charged  with  conspiracy  to  assassinate  President  Lincoln 
and  $100,000  offered  for  his  capture  upon  this  charge.  The 
capture  was  made,  and  the  money  paid,  yet  no  attempt  has 
been  made  by  the  government  to  procure  an  indictment  on 
this  charge.  He  has  been  charged  with  the  virtual  murder 
of  Union  soldiers  while  prisoners  of  war  at  Andersonville — 
but  no  official  attempt  has  been  made  to  indict  him  on  this 
charge. 

"  'A  great  government  may  deal  sternly  with  offenders, 
but  not  meanly;  it  cannot  afford  to  seem  unwilling  to    re 
pair  an  obvious  wrong." 
CHAS  A.  DANA,  New  York  Sun: 

"It  was  not  Jefferson  Davis  or  any  subordinate  or  asso 
ciate  of  his  who  should  now  be  condemned  for  the  horrors 
of  Andersonville.  We  were  responsible  ourselves  for  the 
continued  detention  of  our  captives  in  misery,  starvation  and 
sickness  in  the  South." 

MR.  DANA  again  says: 

"Of  the  charge  of  cruelty  to  our  prisoners  so  often 
brought  against  Mr.  Davis,  and  reiterated  by  Mr.  Blaine  in 
his  speech  in  the  United  States  Senate,  we  think  Mr.  Davis 
must  be  held  altogether  acquitted." 

DR.  KERR,  in  an  address  in  New  Orleans,  said: 

"Thirteen  of  the  acts  of  cruelty  which  convicted  Captain 
Wirz  were  committed  when  he  was  sick  in  bed  and  some  one 
else  was  in  charge  of  the  prisoners." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  25 

DR.  E.  A.  FLEWELLEN,  who  was  sent  by  the  Federal  authorities 
to  inspect  the  Andersonville  prison  told  Dr.  Kerr,  the  Con 
federate  surgeon  in  charge,  that  he  was 

"Most  pleasantly  impressed  with  Captain  Wirz  as  an  of 
ficer,  and  so  reported  to  the  Federal  authorities,  but  as  I 
heard  nothing  from  this  report  supposed  it  suffered  the  fate 
of  other  papers  belonging  to  the  office  of  the  surgeon  gen 
eral." 

He  further  said : 

"I  was  present  at  Wirz's  trial  and  can  affirm  every  state 
ment  you  made  in  your  address  at  New  Orleans  as  to  the 
unfairness  of  the  proceedings,  and  shall  never  cease  to  have 
a  contempt  for  the  president  and  judge  advocate  of  that 
court  martial  for  their  efforts  to  intimidate  the  witnesses 
and  pervert  the  truth,  and  for  the  disrespect  shown  to 
Wirz's  only  attorney,  Louis  Schade." 

Dr.  Kerr  says  that  Wirz  was  called  hard-hearted  and  cruel, 
but  he  has  seen  the  tears  streaming  down  his  face  when  in  the 
hospitals  watching  the  sufferings  of  those  men.  Not  a  man  ever 
died  that  he  did  not  see  that  his  grave  was  distinctly  marked  so 
that  his  mother  could  come  and  claim  that  body. 

If  the  soldiers  hated  Wirz,  as  was  said  in  the  trial,  why  did 
they  not  kill  him,  for  they  had  ample  opportunity,  as  he  never 
went  armed.  He  did  not  even  carry  a  pocket  knife.  He  once 
laughingly  said  to  Dr.  Kerr  that  he  had  an  old  rusty  pistol,  but 
it  would  not  shoot. 

Six  paroled  prisoners  drew  up  some  resolutions  when  they 
returned  from  Washington,  exonerating  the  Confederate  author 
ities  of  all  blame  connected  with  the  horrors  of  Andersonville 
prison  life,  and  testifying  to  the  fact  that  the  insults  received 
at  Secretary  Stanton's  hands  were  far  harder  to  bear  than  any 
thing  they  ever  had  suffered  at  Andersonville.  See  Page's 
"True  History  of  Andersonville"}. 

James  Madison  Page,  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville,  wrote  a 
book  exonerating  Captain  Wirz  and  the  Confederate  authori 
ties.  Some  of  the  prisoners  sent  a  letter  with  a  watch  which 
they  presented  to  Captain  Wirz  as  a  token  of  their  appreciation 
of  his  kind  treatment  of  them.  Mrs.  Perrin,  Wirz's  daughter, 
has  many  testimonials  of  this  kind. 

There  was  never  any  trouble  about  lack  of  provisions  at  An- 


26  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

dersonville,  as  has  been  so  often  stated.  There  was  an  abund 
ant  supply  of  the  rations  that  the  soldiers  and  prisoners  needed, 
but  the  trouble  came  because  of  the  over-crowded  condition  of 
the  stockade. 

There  were  many  bad  men  among  the  prisoners  called  ''bounty 
jumpers,"  and  they  were  killed  by  their  own  men,  yet  Captain 
Wirz  was  accused  of  their  murder.  Dr.  Kerr  said  when  Captain 
Wirz  paroled  those  six  prisoners  to  send  them  North  to  plead 
for  an  exchange,  he  turned  to  him  and  said,  "I  wish  I  could 
parole  the  last  one  of  them."  At  the  surrender  he  went  to 
Macon,  relying  on  the  honor  of  General  Wilson's  parole.  Im 
agine  his  surprise  when  he  was  arrested.  He  was  taken  to  trial, 
condemned  upon  suborned  testimony  and  hanged  November  6, 
1865.  That  was  the  foulest  blot  in  American  history,  and  Mrs. 
Surratt's  death  for  complicity  with  John  Wilkes  Booth  may  be 
placed  beside  it. 

If  any  one  questions  the  truth  of  these  facts,  they  can  be 
found  verified  in  the  volumes  called  the  ''War  of  the  Rebellion," 
in  the  Congressional  Library  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  put  there  by 
the  United  States  authorities.— Series  2,  Vols.  IV.,  V.,  and  VIII., 
and  Series  3,  Vol.  V.,  and  Page's  "True  Story  of  Andersonville 
Prison." 
HERMAN  A.  BRAUM,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  who  was  also  a  prisoner 

at  Andersonville,  after  paying  a  tribute  to  Captain  Wirz  and 

exonerating  the  Confederate  authorities,  says : 

"I  believe  that  there  is  nothing  so  well  calculated  to 
strengthen  the  faith  in  popular  government  as  the  example 
given  by  the  Confederacy  during  the  war,  its  justice,  hu 
manity  and  power.  On  this  rests  the  historic  fame  of  Jef 
ferson  Davis. 

"In  vain  did  the  Confederate  government  urge  an  ex 
change  of  prisoners.  Union  generals  and  Union  civilians 
agreed  that  it  would  never  do  to  let  these  Rebs  go  back  to 
the  firing  line." 

General  Ben  F.  Butler  says  (see  "Butler's  Book,"  pp.  592- 
3-4),  that  General  U.  S.  Grant  and  he  held  a  conference  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  April,  1864,  on  this  very  matter. 

Major  Robert  Ould,  Confederate  States  Commissioner  of  Ex 
change,  was  then  at  the  mouth  of  James  River  on  the  C.  S. 
Steamer,  Roanoke,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  for  the  delivery 
and  exchange  of  prisoners. 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  27 

At  the  conference  between  Generals  Grant  and  Butler  it  was 
finally  decided  that  they  would  agree  to  accept  such  Union  cap 
tives  as  the  Confederates  might  see  fit  to  surrender,  but  that  no 
Confederate  prisoners  would  be  delivered  in  return! 
GENERAL  BUTLER  was  a  man  who,  in  many  respects,  was  bru 
tally  frank  and  fearless,  and  he  put  on  record  the  reason  why 
General  Grant  and  himself  refused  the  offer  to  exchange : 

* '  Many  a  tribute  has  been  paid  to  the  soldier  of  the  South 
by  those  for  whom  he  fought,  by  those  of  the  same  blood 
and  faith,  by  those  who  gloried  in  his  splendid  courage  and 
pitied  his  terrible  sufferings;  but  the  highest  compliment 
that  ever  was  paid  to  the  tattered  and  half-starved  wearer 
of  the  gray  was  that  of  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
Union  armies  who,  in  a  council  of  war,  took  the  ground  that 
the  Confederate  prisoner  was  too  dangerous  to  be  ex 
changed." 


VIII. 

The  Republican  Party  That  Elected  Abraham  Lincoln  Was 
Not  Friendly  to  the  South 

AUTHORITY: 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS: 

"The  Republican  party  is  in  no  sense  a  National  party; 
it  is  a  party  pledged  to  work  for  the  downfall  of  Democracy, 
the  downfall  of  the  Union,  and  the  destruction  of  the  United 
States  Constitution.  The  religious  creed  of  the  party  was 
hate  of  Democracy,  hate  of  the  Union,  hate  of  the  Consti 
tution,  and  hate  of  the  Southern  people." 

Again,  he  says : 

"The  Republican  party  is  the  first  sectional  party  ever 
organized  in  this  country.  It  does  not  know  its  own  face 
and  calls  itself  National,  but  it  is  not  National,  it  is  sec 
tional.  It  is  the  party  of  the  North  pledged  against  the 
South.  It  was  organized  with  hatred  of  the  Constitution. 

"The  Republican  party  that  elected  Abraham  Lincoln  is 
pledged  to  the  downfall  of  the  Union  and  the  destruction 
of  the  United  States  Constitution. 

"William  Lloyd  Garrison  believed  in  the  Constitutional 
right  to  hold  slaves,  and  said  the  Union  must  be  dissolved 
to  free  them. 

"He  believed  in  the  Constitutional  right  of  secession,  so 
was  willing  to  publicly  burn  the  Constitution  to  destroy 


28  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

that  right  and  called  it  'a  compact  with  death  and  a  league 
with  hell. '  : 

CHARLES  BEECHER  STOWE  said: 

"The  party  that  elected  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  party 
avowedly  hostile  to  the  institution  of  slavery." 
Had  they  not  heard  him  say  in  his  address  at  Cooper  Insti 
tute  that : 

"The  anti-slavery  sentiment  had  already  caused  more 
than  a  million  votes  which  could  only  be  seen  by  Southern 
States  to  mean  a  danger  and  menace.  Consequently  when 
they  drew  the  sword  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  States  rights 
and  the  institution  of  slavery,  they  certainly  had  on  their 
side  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  land,  for  the  Na 
tional  Constitution  justified  the  doctrine  of  State  rights." 

R.  G.  HORTON,  in  his  "A  .Youth's  History  of  the  Civil  War/' 
(Pubs.,  Van  Evrie  &  Horton  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1867,  p.  IV),  says: 

"Mr.  Lincoln  assumed  the  dictatorship,  overthrew  the 
government  as  it  was  formed  by  issuing  a  military  edict  or 
decree  which  changed  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land,  and 
declared  that  he  would  maintain  this  by  all  the  military  and 
naval  power  of  the  United  States." 

GEORGE  LUNT  says,  on  page  369 : 

"Mr.  Lincoln,  finding  a  geographical  party  in  the  pro 
cess  of  formation,  allowed  himself  to  be  placed  at  its  head, 
and  encouraged  its  action  by  that  sectional  declaration,  'I 
believe  this  government  cannot  permanently  endure  half 
slave  and  half  free.'  That  expression  gave  hope  to  the 
abolitionists,  and  defeated  Stephen  Douglas." 

BENJAMIN  F.  WADE,  a  Senator  from  Ohio  in  1860,  and  he  did 
not  love  the  South,  said : 

"I  do  not  blame  the  people  of  the  South  for  seceding  for 
the  men  of  that  party  about  to  take  the  reins  of  government 
in  their  hands  are  her  mortal  foes,  and  stand  ready  to 
trample  her  institutions  under  feet." 

JUDGE  WILLIAM  DUER,  of  Oswego,  New  York,  August  6,  1860, 
said: 

"The  Republican  party  is  a  conspiracy  under  the  form, 
but  in  violation  of  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  to  exclude  the  citizens  of  slaveholding  States 
from  all  sharing  in  the  government  of  the  country,  and  to 
compel  them  to  adapt  their  institutions  to  the  opinions  of 
the  citizens  of  the  free  States." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  29 

GEORGE  LUNT  says,  again,  on  p.  359 : 

"The  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  purely  accidental, 
and  that  he  was  a  sectional  candidate  upon  merely  sectional 
grounds  none  can  deny  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  republic,  a  candidate  was  thus  presented  for  the 
suffrages  of  its  citizens. ' ' 

MR.  RAYMOND,  in  the  New  York  Times,  says: 

"His  election  was  more  by  shouts  and  applause  which 
dominated  the  convention  than  from  any  direct  labors  of 
any  of  the  delegates." — Boston  Courier,  May  26,  1860. 

GEORGE  LUNT  : 

Judge  Jessup's  amendment  openly  professed  the  party 
to  be  sectional." 

STEPHEN  DOUGLAS,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Hayes,  December  27, 
1860,  said : 

"Many  Republicans  desire  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  and 
urge  war  as  a  means  of  accomplishing  dissolution. ' ' 
Again  Mr.  Douglas,  February  2,  1861,  said : 

"The  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  are  striving  to 
break  up  the  Union  under  pretense  of  unbounded  devotion 
to  it.  Hostility  to  slavery  on  the  part  of  the  disunionists 
is  stronger  than  fidelity  to  the  Constitution. ' ' 

HORTON  again  says : 

"I  shall  stress  that  this  war  was  not  waged  by  the  North 
to  preserve  the  Union,  or  to  maintain  Republican  institu 
tions,  but  to  destroy  both. 

"It  will  be  seen  that  the  war  changed  the  entire  character 
and  system  of  our  government,  overthrew  the  rights  of 
States,  and  forced  amendments  against  the  action  of  the 
people." 

R.  G.  HORTON,  again,  said,  p.  51  of  his  "Youth's  History  of  the 
Civil  War": 

"At  the  very  time  the  abolitionists  were  preaching  a  mad 
crusade  against  the  Union,  and  educating  a  generation  to 
hate  the  government  of  our  fathers,  Southern  men,  the  great 
leaders  of  the  South,  were  begging  and  imploring  that  the 
Union  might  be  preserved. ' ' 

The  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  January  15,  1881,  said : 

"Republican  hate  has  blasted  the  fair  heritage  of  our 
fathers.  The  prediction  made  two  years  before  Daniel 


30  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

Webster 's  death  has  literally  come  true.  He  said :  *  If  these 
fanatics  (abolitionists)  ever  get  the  power  in  their  own 
hands  they  will  override  the  Constitution,  set  the  Supreme 
Court  at  defiance,  change  and  make  laws  to  suit  themselves, 
lay  violent  hands  on  them  who  differ  in  opinion,  or  who 
dare  question  their  fidelity,  and  finally  deluge  the  country 
with  blood." 

IX. 

The  South  Desired  Peace  and  Made  Every  Effort  to  Obtain  It 

AUTHORITY : 

THE  MISSISSIPPI  CONVENTION  sent  a  commissioner  to  Maryland 
and  when  asked  what  was  the  intention  of  the  Southern  States 
by  secession,  (Shaffner's  "Secession  War,"  London.,  1862), 
he  replied: 

"Secession  is  not  intended  to  break  up  the  present  gov 
ernment,  but  to  perpetuate  it.  Our  plan  is  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union  in  order  to  allow  amendments  to  the  Constitu 
tion  to  be  made,  guaranteeing  our  just  rights.  If  the  North 
ern  States  will  not  make  these  amendments — then  we  must 
secure  them  ourselves  by  a  government  of  our  own." 

LORD  CHARNWOOD'S  "Life  of  Lincoln": 

"This  madness  appeared  when  the  Congress  met  in  De 
cember,  1860.  In  order  to  allay  the  apprehensions  of  the 
Southern  people  regarding  the  purposes  of  the  party  just 
ready  to  come  into  power,  the  Southern  members  offered 
resolution  after  resolution  looking  to  tranquility.  These 
resolutions  were  all  rejected  by  the  House  of  Representa 
tives. 

"Then  was  offered  in  the  Senate  the  celebrated  'Critten- 
den  Compromise,'  yielding  all  that  the  North  demanded  in 
regard  to  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  Territories,  but  in 
sisting  that  the  Constitution  be  respected  as  to  fugitive 
slaves,  and  that  the  Constitution  be  maintained  and  its  pro 
vision  be  kept  as  adjudicated  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
land.  The  South  made  no  new  request ;  it  went  not  outside 
of  the  Constitution.  It  rested  its  case  on  the  Constitution 
and  on  its  interpretation  by  the  highest  court  of  the  land. 
It  was  strictly  loyal  to  the  Constitution. 

Why  wais  the  Crittenden  Compromise  rejected?  Be 
cause  Mr.  Lincoln  willed  it.  He  wrote  letters  to  his  party 
leaders  to  defeat  it.  He  said  'he  had  no  compromises  to 
make  with  the  South. '  The  idea  was  that  he  had  triumphed 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  31 

and  that  triumph  meant  no  surrender  in  any  respect  of  the 

new  policies. 

"It  was  a  tragic  day  when  the  Crittenden  Compromise 

was  defeated.  Not  a  single  Republican  voted  for  it. 
The  Crittenden  Resolutions  were  a  most  generous  proposition 
from  the  South  to  allow  out  of  the  1,200,000  square  miles  of 
territory  acquired  by  conquest  and  purchase,  900,000  square 
miles  for  free  territory  and  the  remaining  300,000  square  miles 
to  be  free  or  slave  as  each  new  State  formed  might  choose,  and 
this,  too,  when  Southern  prowess  had  largely  gained  the  terri 
tory.  These  resolutions  in  the  interest  of  peace  were  offered  by 
Northern  and  Southern  Democrats.  Lincoln  notified  all  Re 
publican  States  through  Senators  Harlan  and  Zach  Chandler 
to  vote  against  these  resolutions.  Had  he  not  done  this  they 
would  have  passed.  Unjust  as  they  were  to  the  South,  the 
South  would  have  accepted  them,  and  Thurlow  Weed  and  Seward 
would  have  seen  that  they  were  passed  by  the  North.  It  was 
Lincoln's  fault  they  were  rejected.  George  Lunt  said  Lincoln 
later  acknowledged  that  he  regretted  this. 

Again  Lord  Charnwood  said: 

"Senator  Chandler,  of  Michigan,  had  telegraphed  to  the 
Governor  of  Michigan  to  send  delegates  to  the  Peace  Con 
gress,  'but  to  send  stiff-necked  men  or  none — for  without  a 
little  blood  letting  the  Union  will  not  be  worth  saving.'  " 

GEORGE  LUNT,  p.  423,  says: 

"The  propositions  of  the  Peace  Conference  evidently 
formed  a  sound  basis  for  settlement  of  the  controversy. 
These  resolutions  were  introduced  by  Mr.  Crittenden,  of 
Kentucky,  and  had  they  been  adopted,  they  would  have 
saved  the  country  from  its  coming  trials.  On  the  commit 
tee  of  thirteen  reporting  these  resolutions  were  Jefferson 
Davis,  of  Mississippi ;  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia ;  Robert 
Toombs,  of  Georgia ;  five  from  slave  States — eight  from 
free  States.  General  Toombs  reported  to  his  constituents 
in  Georgia  that  the  Black  Republican  solidly  voted  against 
the  resolutions.  Mr.  Douglas,  in  the  Senate,  said:  'Every 
member  from  the  South  including  Messrs.  Davis  and 
Toombs,  from  the  Cotton  States,  expressed  a  willingness  to 
accept  the  resolutions  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  contro 
versy.  Hence  the  responsibility  of  our  disagreement,  and 
the  only  difficulty  in  the  way  of  an  amicable  adjustment  is 
with  the  Republican  parHv '  (Soo  Congressional  Globe, 
Appendix  1800-61,  p.  41). 


32  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

"Mr.  Toombs,  in  the  Senate,  said  there  were  some  condi 
tions  he  would  prefer,  but  for  the  sake  of  peace — perma 
nent  peace — he  would  accept  them." 

Mr.  Pugh,  of  Ohio,  said  he  had  heard  the  senator  from 
Mississippi  (afterwards  President  Davis)  before  leaving 
the  Senate  Chamber  say  he  would  accept  it  to  maintain 
the  Union.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  a  two-thirds  vote 
would  have  saved  the  Union." 

When  it  came  to  a  final  vote  every  Republican  voted  against 
them  except  Mr.  Seivard  ivho  refused  to  vote  at  all.  The  resolu 
tions  were  lost  by  a  vote  of  20  to  19.  How  could  peace  have 
been  brought  about? 

MR.  DIXON,  of  Connecticut,  in  1860,  had  the  true  idea.    He  said : 

"The  true  way  to  restore  harmony  is  by  cheerfully  and 

honestly   assuring  every   section   its   Constitutional   rights. 

No  section  professes  to  ask  more;  no  section  ought  to  offer 

less." 

MR.  BROWN,  a  personal  friend  and  colleague  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
of  Mississippi,  replied : 

"If  that  same  spirit  could  prevail  which  actuates  the 
senator  from  Connecticut,  who  has  just  taken  his  seat,  a 
different  state  of  things  might  be  produced  in  twenty  days." 

THE  REJECTION  of  the  Crittenden  Resolutions  created  a  crisis: 

"The  Southern  leaders  then  called  a  conference.  What 
was  to  be  done  ?  All  their  proposals  of  compromise,  look 
ing  to  peace,  tranquility,  security  within  the  Union,  had 
failed.  They  asked  each  other:  'What  is  the  purpose  of 
this  anti-South  party?  What  means  the  rejection  of  our 
compromises?  Why  did  Mr.  Lincoln  discountenance  any 
compromise?  What  means  this  secession  from  the  Consti 
tution?  This  refusal  to  abide  by  the  decisions  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court?  What  means  Mr.  Lincoln's  atti 
tude  in  opposing  the  Crittenden  Compromise?' 

"Despairing  of  their  rights  within  the  Union,  the  South 
ern  leaders  advised  the  Southern  States  to  throw  themselves 
back  on  their  reserved  rights  and  withdraw  from  the  Union. 
But  it  was  too  late.  It  could  have  been  done  in  1S50,  but 
not  in  1861.  From  1850  to  1860  the  North  had  educated 
the  people  of  the  North  out  of  the  Jefferson  theory  of  State 
rights. ' ' — George  Lunt. 

SECOND  PEACE  CONGRESS,  Ex-President  John  Tyler,  President, 
Washington,  D.  C. : 

"Virginia   did   not  act   at   the   time   with   the   Southern 


THE    TRUTHS    O;F    HISTORY  33 

States  that  organized  the  Confederacy,  but  called  a  'Peace 
Conference.'  Twenty-one  States  responded  to  the  call. 
The  venerable  John  Tyler,  ex-President  of  the  United 
States,  was  chosen  president.  They  met  in  Washington 
on  February  4,  1861.  But  Salmon  P.  Chase,  to  be  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  under  the  new  administration,  was 
there  as  the  representative  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  new  vic 
torious  party.  His  speech  destroyed  all  hope  of  any  recon 
ciliation.  He  refused  all  compromises,  and  said  Northern 
States  would  never  fulfill  that  part  of  the  Constitution  in 
regard  to  fugitive  slaves,  and  that  the  decision  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  would  not  be  abided.  The  failure  of  this  con 
ference  was  a  great  disappointment,  especially  to  Virginia. 
Mr.  Lincoln  took  the  same  stand  as  he  did  regarding  the 
Crittenden  Compromise." — Lord  Charnwood's  "L/ife  of 
Lincoln." 

JUDGE  SALMON  P.  CHASE  in  Peace  Congress : 

1 '  I  must  tell  you  further  that  under  no  inducements  what 
ever  will  we  consent  to  surrender  a  principle  which  we  be 
lieve  to  be  sound,  and  so  important  as  that  of  restricting 
slavery  within  State  limits." 

And  again  he  said : 

"The  people  of  the  free  States  who  believe  that  slavery 
is  wrong  cannot  and  wall  not  aid  in  returning  runaway 
slaves  and  the  law  becomes  a  dead  letter." 

Now,   this  was  in   defiance   of  the   decision   of  the   Supreme 
Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case. 

SECRETARY  CHASE  announced  that: 

"The  Republican  party  would  concede  nothing  in  regard 
to  slave  extension  in  the  Territories,  and  the  Northern 
States  would  never  fulfill  their  Constitutional  obligations." 
(There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  adjourn). 

THE  third  attempt  was  when  the  Peace  Commissioners  were  sent 
from  the  Confederate  government  with  this  message : 

"The  undersigned  are  instructed  to  make  to  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  overtures  for  the  opening  of  ne 
gotiations,  assuring  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
that  the  President,  Congress,  and  people  of  the  Confeder 
ate  States  earnestly  desire  a  peaceful  solution  of  these  great 
questions;  that  it  is  neither  their  interest  nor  their  wish  to 
make  any  demand  which  is  not  founded  in  strictest  justice, 
nor  do  any  act  to  injure  their  late  Confederates." 


34  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

A  peaceful  spirit  would  have  kept  peace — who  was  responsi 
ble  for  the  answer  ? 
HAMPTON  ROADS  CONFERENCE  the  last: 

"At  Hampton  Roads,  Lincoln  refused  to  accept  any  pro 
posals  except  unconditional  surrender.  He  promised 
clemency  but  refused  to  define  it,  except  to  say  that  he  in 
dividually  favored  compensation  for  slave  owners,  and  that 
he  would  execute  the  confiscation  and  other  penal  acts  with 
the  utmost  liberality.  He  made  it  plain  throughout  that  he 
was  fighting  for  an  idea,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  talk  of 
compromise  until  that  idea  was  triumphant.  We  are  aware, 
of  course,  of  that  long-exploded  myth  telling  how  he  offered 
Stephens  a  sheet  of  paper  with  'Union'  written  on  it,  and 
told  the  Confederate  statesman  to  fill  up  the  rest  of  the 
paper  to  suit  himself.  'He  offered  us  nothing  but  uncon 
ditional  submission,'  says  Stephens  on  his  return,  and  he 
called  the  conference,  therefore,  fruitless  and  inadequate. " 
— New  York  Times. 

Abraham  Lincoln  testifies  the  same.  See  Lincoln's  Message  to 
House,  Feb.  10,  1865;  "War  of  the  Rebellion,"  Series  1,  Vol. 
XL VI,  p.  505;  Lincoln's  Instructions  to  Seward,  Jan.  31,  1865; 
"Life  of  Lincoln,"  Nicolay  &  Hay,  Vol  X.;  Se ward's  Letter  to 
Charles  Francis  Adams;  "War  of  Rebellion,"  Series  III,  Vol. 
IV.,  pp.  1163-1164. 


X. 

The  Policy  of  the  Northern  Army  Was  to  Destroy  Property — 
That  of  the  Southern  Army  to  Protect  It 

AUTHORITY: 

SHERIDAN  's  OFFICIAL  REPORT  : 

"I  have  burned  two  thousand  barns  filled  with  wheat 
and  corn,  all  the  mills  in  the  whole  country,  destroyed  all 
the  factories  of  cloth,  killed  or  driven  off  every  animal, 
even  the  poultry  that  could  contribute  to  human  sustenance. 

"Nothing  should  be  left  in  the  Shenandoah  but  eyes  to 
lament  the  war." 

SHERMAN'S  Memoirs: 

"It  will  not  be  necessary  to  sow  salt  on  the  site  of  Charles 
ton  after  the  Fifteenth  Corps  has  done  its  work." 

"One  hundred  million  dollars  of  damage  has  been  done 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  35 

to  Georgia ;  $20,000,000  inured  to  our  benefit,  the  remainder 
simply  waste  and  destruction." 

"  On  General  Howell  Cobb's  plantation  I  told  my  men  to 
spare  nothing." 

"I'll  not  restrain  the  army  lest  its  vigor  and  energy  be 
impaired."  (p.  185). 

"In  South  Carolina  I  kindled  my  fire  with  an  old  mantel 
clock,  and  a  piece  of  a  handsome  old  bedstead."  (p.  225). 

"Orders  to  kill  Jeff  Davis  and  his  Cabinet  on  the  spot" 
were  found  on  the  person  of  Dahlgren  in  Richmond,  Va. 

Lord  Palmerson  in  the  British  House  of  Commons  took  oc 
casion  to  express  deepest  indignation  at  General  Butler's  in 
famous  order  No.  28  against  the  ladies  of  New  Orleans. 

GENERAL   GRANT   to   Hunter   in   the   Shenandoah  Valley,   Vir 
ginia  : 

"Nothing  shall  be  left  to  invite  the  enemy  to  return." 

1  "City  Point,  July  14,  1864. 
"  'Major-General  Halleck,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  'If  the  enemy  has  left  Maryland,  as  I  suppose  he  has, 
he  should  have  upon  his  heels  veterans,  militiamen,  men  on 
horseback,  and  everything  that  can  be  got  to  follow  to  eat 
out  Virginia  clear  and  clean  as  they  go,  so  that  the  crows 
flying  over  it  will  have  to  carry  their  provender  with  them. 
"(Signed)  U.  S.  GRANT, 

"  'Lieutenant-General.'  " 
"  'City  Point,  August  26,  1864. 
"  'Major-General  Sheridan,  Halltown,  Va. : 

"  'Do  all  the  damage  to  railroads  and  crops  you  can. 
Carry  off  stock  of  all  descriptions  and  negroes,  so  as  to  pre 
vent  further  planting.  We  want  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
to  remain  a  barren  waste. 

"  '(Signed)  U.  S.  GRANT, 

"  'Lieutenant-General.'  : 
"  'Headquarters  Middle  Military  Division, 

"  'Harrisburg,  Sept.  28,  1864,  10:30  p.  m. 

"  'Brig.-Gen.  W.  Merritt,  Commanding  First  Cavalry  Di 
vision  : 

"  'General:  The  general  commanding  directed  that  you 
leave  a  small  force  to  watch  Swift  Run  and  Brown  Gap  and 
with  balance  of  your  command  and  Custer's  Division  to 
swing  around  through  or  near  Piedmont,  extending  toward 
and  as  near  Staunton  as  possible.  Destroy  all  mills,  all 
grain,  and  ail  forage  you  can  and  drive  off  or  kill  all  stock 
and  otherwise  carry  out  instructions  of  Lieutenant-General 


36  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

Grant,  an  extract  of  which  is  sent  you  and  which  means 
'leave  a  barren  waste.' 

"  '  (Signed)          JAMES  W.  FORSYTE, 
"  'Lieut.-Col.  and  Chief  of  Staff  to  General  Sheridan.'  " 
"  'Headquarters  of  the  Army,  Washington,  D.  C,, 

11  'December  18,  1864. 
"  'Major-General  Sherman,  Savannah: 

"  'Should  you  capture  Charleston,  I  hope  that  by  some 
accident  the  place  may  be  destroyed;  and  if  a  little  salt 
should  be  sown  upon  the  site,  it  may  prevent  the  growth  of 
future  crops  of  nullification  and  secession. 

"  '(Signed)  W.  H.  HALLECK, 

"  'Chief  of  Staff' 

"  'Field  Headquarters  of  the  Military  Division  of 

the  Mississippi,  Savannah,  December  24,  1864. 
"  'Major-General  W.   H.   Halleck,    Chief   of   Staff,   Wash 
ington,  D.   C. : 

"  'I  will  bear  in  mind  your  hint  as  to  Charleston,  and  I 
do  not  think  'salt'  will  be  necessary.  When  I  move,  the 
Fifteenth  Corps  will  be  on  the  right  of  the  right  wing,  and 
their  postiion  will  bring  them  into  Charleston  first ;  and  if 
you  have  watched  the  history  of  this  corps,  you  will  have 
remarked  that  it  generally  does  its  work  pretty  well. 

"  'The  truth  is,  the  whole  army  is  burning  with  an  insa 
tiable  desire  to  wreak  vengeance  upon  South  Carolina.  I 
almost  tremble  at  her  fate,  but  feel  that  she  deserves  all 
that  seems  in  store  for  her.  We  must  make  old  and  young, 
rich  and  poor,  feel  the  hard  hand  of  war  as  well  as  their 
organized  armies. 

"  '(Signed)  W.  T.  SHERMAN, 

"  'Major-General.'  : 

"The  Story  of  a  Great  March/'  Brevet  Major  George  W.  Nich 
ols,  Aide-de-Camp  to  General  Sherman: 

"History  will  in  vain  be  searched  for  a  parallel  to  the 
scathing  and  destructive  effect  of  the  invasion  of  the  Caro- 
linas.  Aside  from  the  destruction  of  military  things,  there 
wore  destructions  overwhelming,  overleaping  the  present 
generation — even  if  peace  speedily  come,  agriculture,  com 
merce,  cannot  be  revived  in  our  day.  Day  by  day  our  le 
gions  of  armed  men  surged  over  the  land,  over  a  region  of 
forty  miles  wide,  burning  everything  we  could  not  take 
away.  On  every  side  the  head,  center  and  rear  of  our  col 
umns  might  be  traced  by  columns  of  smoke  by  day  and  the 
glare  of  flames  by  night.  The  burning  hand  of  war  pressed 
on  these  people,  blasting,  withering." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  37 

MAJOR  NICHOLS,  "The  Story  of  a  Great  March,  November  15, 
1864  (p.  38),  Atlanta,  Ga. : 

"A  grand  and  awful  spectacle  is  presented  to  the  be- 
holders  of  this  beautiful  city  now  in  flames.  The  Heaven 
is  one  expanse  of  lurid  fire.  The  air  is  filled  with  flying, 
burning  cinders.  Buildings  covering  200  acres  are  in  ruins 
or  flames." 

"We  are  leaving  Atlanta.  Behind  we  leave  a  track  of 
smoke  and  flame.  Yesterday  we  saw  in  the  distance  a  pillar 
of  smoke;  the  bridges  were  all  in  flames.  I  heard  a  soldier 
say,  '  I  believe  Sherman  has  set  the  very  river  on  fire. '  His 
comrades  replied,  '  If  he  has  its  all  right. '  The  rebel  inhab 
itants  are  in  an  agony.  The  soldiers  are  as  hearty  and  jolly 
as  men  can  be. "  (p.  37). 

"The  soldiers  are  hunting  for  concealed  things  and  these 
searches  are  one  of  the  pleasant  excitements  of  our  march. " 
(p.  39). 

SHERMAN'S  Memoirs,  Vol.  II,  p.  287: 

"In  my  official  report  of  the  conflagration  of  Columbia 
I  distinctly  charged  it  to  General  Wade  Hampton,  and  now 
I  confess  I  did  it  pointedly  to  shake  the  faith  of  his  people 
in  him." 

GREGG'S  History,  p.  375: 

"The  devastation  of  the  Palatine  hardly  exceeded  the 
desolation  and  misery  wrought  by  the  Republican  invasion 
and  conquest  of  the  South.  No  conquered  nation  of  modern 
days,  not  Poland  under  the  heel  of  Nicholas,  nor  Spain  or 
Russia  under  that  of  Napoleon,  suffered  from  such  individ 
ual  and  collective  ruin  or  saw  before  so  frightful  a  pros 
pect  as  the  States  dragged  by  force  in  April,  1865." 

CONTRAST  : 
PRESIDENT  DAVIS  : 

"In  regard  to  the  enemy's  crews  and  vessels  you  are  to 
proceed  with  the  justice  and  humanity  which  characterize 
our  government  and  its  citizens." 

"General  Lee,  for  fear  his  soldiers  should  pillage  while 
foraging  in  Pennsylvania,  had  the  roll  call  three  times 
daily." 

It  is  true  General  Early  did  burn  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  but  it 
was  only  after  a  refusal  by  the  people  to  pay  the  $100,000  de 
manded  for  General  Hunter's  destruction  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley. 


38  EHE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

When  at  York,  Pa.,  he  was  urged  to  burn  that  place  in  retalia 
tion.     He  said : 

"We  do  not  make  war  011  women  and  children." 

GENERAL  JOHN  B.  GORDON  to  the  women  in  York,  Pa. : 

"If  the  torch  is  applied  to  a  single  dwelling  or  an  insult 
offered  to  a  woman  by  a  soldier  in  my  command,  point  me 
the  man  and  you  shall  have  his  life." 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS  testified: 

"I  doubt  if  a  hostile  foe  ever  advanced  in  an  enemy's 
country  or  fell  back  from  it  in  retreat  leaving  behind  it 
less  cause  for  hate  and  bitterness  than  did  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia." 

R.  E.  LEE,  Commanding  General,  Chambersburg,  Penn.,  June 
21,  1863: 

"The  commanding  general  considers  that  no  greater  dis 
grace  could  befall  the  army,  and  through  it  our  whole  peo 
ple,  than  the  perpetuation  of  the  barbarous  outrages  upon 
the  unarmed  and  defenseless  and  the  wanton  destruction 
of  private  property  that  have  marked  the  course  of  the 
enemy  in  our  own  country. 

"Such  proceedings  not  only  degrade  the  perpetrators  and 
all  conected  with  them,  but  are  subversive  of  the  discipline 
and  efficiency  of  the  army  and  destructive  of  the  ends  of 
our  present  movement.  It  must  be  remembered  that  we 
make  war  only  upon  armed  men,  and  that  we  cannot  take 
vengeance  for  the  wrongs  our  people  have  suffered  without 
lowering  ourselves  in  the  eyes  of  all  whose  abhorrence  has 
been  excited  by  the  atrocities  of  our  enemies  and  offending 
against  Him  to  whom  vengeance  belongeth,  without  whose 
favor  and  support  our  efforts  all  prove  in  vain.  The  com 
manding  general,  therefore,  earnestly  exhorts  the  troops  to 
abstain,  with  most  scrupulous  care,  from  unnecessary  or 
wanton  injury  to  private  property,  and  he  enjoins  upon  all 
officers  to  arrest  and  bring  to  summary  punishment  all  who 
shall  in  any  way  offend  against  the  orders  on  this  subject." 

PRESIDENT  DAVIS  said  to  his  soldiers : 

"The  rules  taught  at  West  Point  were:  'Private  prop 
erty  can  be  seized  only  by  way  of  military  necessity  for  the 
support  or  benefit  of  the  army  of  the  United  States.  All 
wanton  violence,  pillage  or  sacking,  maiming  or  killing  is 
prohibited  under  penalty  of  death  or  punishment  adequate 
for  the  gravity  of  the  offense.'  " 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  39 

WILLIAM  M.  MACY,  Secretary  of  War,  July  28,  1856 : 

"The  wanton  pillage  or  uncompensated  appropriation  of 
individual  property  by  an  army,  even  in  possassion  of  an 
enemy's  country  is  against  the  usage  of  modern  times." 


XI. 
The  South  Has  Never  Had  Her  Rightful  Place  In  Literature 

AUTHORITY : 

HARRIET  MARTINEAU  said: 

"For  more  than  fifty  years  after  the  Revolution  the  best 
specimen  of  periodical  literature  that  this  country  afforded 
was  'The  Southern  Review,'  published  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 
by  Bledsoe." 

HAMILTON  W.  MABIE  placed  Poe,  Timrod  and  Lanier  as  equal 
in  poetic  quality  with  Bryant,  Whittier  and  Longfellow.  He 
said: 

"In  the  widening  literary  activity  the  South  has  borne 
a  very  notable  part — indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  it  has 
borne  the  chief  part." 
PANCOAST,  of  Philadelphia,  says : 

"The  Southern  story  writers  have  done  more  than  given 
us  studies  of  new  localities.  We  feel  instinctively  a  differ 
ent  quality  in  their  work.  Contrasted  with  the  New  Eng 
land  writers  we  feel  the  richer  coloring,  the  warmer  blood, 
and  the  quicker  pulses.  When  you  read  Hawthorne  and 
then  turn  to  'Marse  Chan'  and  ' Meh  Lady'  by  Thomas  Nel 
son  Page,  it  is  like  passing  from  the  world  of  thought  to  the 
world  of  action — from  the  analysis  of  life  to  true  living. 
It  is  a  world  where  the  men  are  full  of  knightly  deeds." 

HAMILTON  MABIE  said: 

"The  genius  of  the  Old  South  went  into  the  management 
of  public  affairs  and  gave  the  country  a  group  of  statesmen 
that  will  not  suffer  by  comparison  with  the  foremost  public 
men  of  any  country." 

Then  again: 

"The  South  of  today  has  no  explanations  to  make;  her 
quota  of  writers  of  original  gift  and  genuine  art  is  perhaps 
more  important  than  that  furnished  by  any  other  section  of 
our  country.  These  writers  exhibit  certain  qualities  of  the 
Southern  temperament  from  which  much  may  be  expected 


40  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

in  the  literature  of  the  future.  Their  work  comes  from  the 
heart  rather  than  from  analytical  faculties.  It  is  made  of 
flesh  and  blood,  and  it  is  therefore  simple,  tender,  humor 
ous  and  altogether  human,  and  those  qualities  give  assur 
ance  that  it  has  long  life  before  it." — The  Outlook. 

What  does  JOHN  FISKE,  a  great  historian  of  this  century  say? 
While  unjust  to  the  South  in  many  things  he  realizes  the  part 
the  South  has  played  in  the  making  of  the  Nation : 

"Jefferson,  Washington,  Madison,  Marshall  and  Alexan 
der  Hamilton  are  distinguished  above  all  others  and  in  an 
especial  sense  they  deserve  to  be  called  the  founders  of  the 
American  Union. 

"The  Declaration  of  Independence  ranks  with  the  Magna 
Charta  and  the  Bill  of  Rights  as  one  of  the  three  greatest 
of  State  papers. 

"John  Marshall,  Chief  Justice  for  thirty  years,  settled 
the  relations  of  the  Executive,  Legislative,  and  Judicial 
branches  of  the  government. 

"James  Madison,  as  a  constructive  thinker,  did  more  than 
all  others  not  only  to  create  the  Constitution,  but  to  secure 
its  ratification." 

What  section  of  the  country  ever  produced  greater  orators 
than  Henry  Clay,  John  C.  Calhoun,  John  Forsyth,  Benjamin 
H.  Hill,  Robert  Toombs,  Howell  Cobb,  Alexander  Stephens, 
Robert  Y.  Hayne,  William  H.  Yancey  and  a  host  of  others? 

The  greatest  American  dramatist  was  Augustin  Daly,  North 
Carolina. 

IN  "The  Outlook"  in  1899  appeared  this  article  from  the  pen 
of  Hamilton  Mabie: 

"The  South  never  lacked  institutions  to  keep  alive  the 
best  traditions  of  scholarship — never  lacked  culture  to  keep 
in  touch  with  the  best  of  thought  and  art  in  the  Old  World 
and  the  New.  A  love  of  letters  was  really  keener  in  the 
South  than  in  New  England,  and  there  was  a  much  larger 
group  of  highly  educated  men  in  the  South  than  in  New 
England — but  ethics  and  religion  made  literature  of  sec 
ondary  importance. 

"The  genius  of  the  Old  South  went  into  the  manage 
ment  of  public  affairs,  but  it  gave  the  country  a  group  of 
statesmen  who  would  add  dignity  to  the  most  illustrious 
periods  of  statesmenship — such  men  as  Washington,  Jeffer 
son,  Madison,  and  Marshall — they  will  not  suffer  by  com 
parison  with  the  foremost  public  men  of  the  country." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  41 

PANCOAST,  of  Philadelphia,  says : 

"Put  the  work  of  Cable  by  the  side  of  Ho  well's  and  it  is 
like  the  tropic  warmth  of  the  Gulf  Stream  after  the  chill 
of  Northern  waters. 

"The  themes  of  the  Southern  writers  are  fresh,  new, 
inspiring  and  striking — -they  write  about  the  things  with 
which  they  are  familiar. ' ' 

Victor  Hugo  called  Edgar  Allan  Poe  "The  Prince  of  Amer 
ican  Literature.'7 

The  London   Quarterly  Review   said,   "He  had  an  ear   for 
rhythm  unmatched  in   all  the   ages."     And  Richardson   says: 
"He  is  one  of  the  world's  men  of  genius." 
COLERIDGE  said : 

"Washington  Allston  of  South  Carolina  was  the  first 
genius  of  the  Western  World." 

TENNYSON  said: 

"Bryant,  Whittier  and  other  New  England  writers  are 
pigmies  compared  with  Poe.  He  is  the  literary  glory  of 
America." 

Paul  Hamilton  Hayne  has  been  called  the  "Woodland  Min 
strel  of  America."  His  "Daphels"  has  been  pronounced  by 
Lewisohn  as  *  *  the  finest  narrative  poem  ever  written, ' '  and  Ten 
nyson  called  him  "the  finest  sonnet  writer  in  America." 

HAMILTON  MABIE,  in  "The  Outlook/'  said: 

"Timrod's  "Cotton  Boll"  and  Lanier's  "Sunrise"  have 
been  called  'the  most  original  achievements  of  American 
poetry.'  : 

LONGFELLOW  said: 

"The  time  will  surely  come  when  Timrod's  poems  will  be 
in  every  home  of  culture." 

Yet  after  this  high  praise,  Brander  Matthews  in  his  American 
Literature,  gives  Lanier  and  Timrod  three  lines,  does  not  men 
tion  Hayne  or  Father  Ryan,  but  gives  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  an  entire  page. 

Abernathy,  in  his  American  Literature  gives  eleven  pages  to 
Daniel  Webster  and  three  lines  to  Clay  and  Calhoun.  He  gives 
Franklin  more  space  than  he  gives  to  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Monroe,  Marshall,  Patrick  Henry,  Henry  Laurens,  the 
Randolphs,  the  Pinckneys  and  other  Southern  statesmen  com 
bined. 


42  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

Tlie  New  International  Encyclopedia  gives  as  much  space  to 
John  Brown — a  traitor  and  murderer — as  is  given  to  Robert 
Toombs,  William  II.  Yancey,  Alexander  Stephens  and  other 
statesmen  of  the  South  combined. 

The  Columbia  Encyclopedia  gives  John  Brown  as  much  or 
more  space  than  is  given  to  Jefferson  Davis,  United  States  Sec 
retary  of  War  and  President  of  the  Confederate  States. 

XII. 

The  North  Violated  the  Constitution,  and  Refused  to  Stand  by 

the  Decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  This 

Drove  the  South  to  Secession 

1.  The  Missouri  Compromise,  1820.     Slave  territory  restricted 

and  no  Constitutional  authority  for  it, 

2.  The  Tariff  Acts  of  1828  and  1833.     The  Constitution  says 

tariff  must  be  uniform — one  section  must  not  be  discrim 
inated  against  in  favor  of  another. 

3.  Violation  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.     Article  IV.,  Sec.  II., 

Clause  3. 

4.  Coercion  in  1861.    Article  IV.,  Sec.  IV. 

5.  Laws  of  Neutrality — Trent  Affair.     Article  VI.,  Clause  2 — 

Violation  of  International  Law. 

6.  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  Suspended.     Article  I.,   Sec.  IX., 

Clause  2. 

1.  War  Was  Declared  Without  the  Consent  of  Congress,  1861. 
Article  I.,  Section  VIII.,  Clauses  11,  12. 

8.  Emancipation    Proclamation.      Article    IV.,    Section    III., 

Clause  2. 

9.  West    Virginia  Made   a   State.     Article    IV.,    Section   III.. 

Clause  1. 

10.  The  Hanging  of  Mrs.  Surratt.     Amendments — Article  V. 

11.  The  Execution  of  Henry  Wirz.     Amendments — Article  VI. 

12.  The  XIV.  and  XV.  Amendments.    Article  V. 

13.  The  Seizure  Without  Compensation  of  Property  After  Sur 

render.  -Amendments — Articles  IV.  and  VI. 

14.  Squatter  Sovereignty.     It  allowed  a  territorial  government 

to  exclude  slavery. 

15.  The  Inberty  of  the  Press  Taken  Away.     Amendments — Ar 

ticle  I. 


THE    TRUTHS    O.F    HISTORY  43 

16.  The   Freedom    of    Speech   Denied.      Vallandigham    Impris 

oned  in  Ohio.     Amendments — Article  I. 

17.  Blockading  Ports  of  States  that  Were  Held  by  the  Federal 

Government  to  Be  still  in  the  Union. 

MISSOURI   COMPROMISE. 

PERCY  GREGG,  the  English  historian,  says : 

"Baffled,  wearied  and  worn  out,  the  South  reluctantly 
submitted  to  the  Missouri  Compromise.  This  was  no  com 
promise  but  the  extortion  by  naked  force  at  an  enormous 
price  for  the  allowance  of  a  right  iniquitiously  and  uncon 
stitutionally  withheld. ' ' 

GEORGE  LUNT,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  his  "Origin  of  the 
Late  War/'  says: 

"Missouri  was  as  fairly  entitled  to  admission  into  the 
"Union  as  a  slave  State,  if  its  inhabitants  so  willed  it,  as 
Louisiana  had  come  in  as  a  slave  State  in  1812  or  Iowa  as 
a  free  State  in  1846.  It  was,  nevertheless,  a  struggle  on  the 
part  of  the  North  to  impose  political  restrictioas  upon  that 
enlargement  of  political  power  which  it  is  feared  the  South 
might  gain  by  increasing  the  number  of  States  allied  to 
it  in  interest  and  sympathy.  It  was  the  earliest  open  dem 
onstration  of  organized  jealousy." 

GEORGE  LUNT  gives  some  resolutions  passed  unanimously  by 
the  House  of  Representatives: 

"That  neither  the  Federal  government  nor  non-slave- 
holding  States  have  a  Constitutional  right  to  legislate  upon 
or  interfere  with  slavery  in  any  of  the  States  in  the  Union." 

(p.  432). 

The  South  again  felt  that  the  Compromises  of  1850  were  un 
just  because  the  Missouri  line  was  made  when  the  North  wished 
it  and  was  done  away  with,  when  the  North  wished  it,  and  that 
the  North,  to  carry  her  point,  was  willing  to  destroy  not  only 
the  Constitution  but  the  very  Union  itself. 

Hear  what  JOSIAH  QUINCY,  the  standard  bearer  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  (Political  Textbook,  p.  108;  Letter  to  Mr.  Car- 
ruthers,  Feb.  28,  1856;  George  Lunt,  p.  261),  said: 

"Reinstate  in  full  force  that  barrier  against  the  exten 
sion  of  slavery  called  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Make 
Kansas  a  free  State  even  if  it  dissolves  the  Union  itself."- 


44  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

JUDGE  STORY,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  speaking  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  (Peters  Reports,  Pregg  vs.  Pa.,  p.  611),  said: 

"It  cannot  be  doubted  that  it  constituted  a  fundamental 
article,  (the  right  to  own  slaves)  without  the  adoption  of 
which  the  Union  could  not  have  been  formed." 

TARIFF  ACTS. 

The  South  maintained  that  the  Tariff  Acts  of  1828  and  1833 
were  unconstitutional,  since  Congress  had  the  power  to  levy 
taxes  only  for  revenue  and  the  taxes  must  be  uniform.  The 
act  then  passed  was  sectional,  since  by  it  the  South,  while  she 
had  only  one-third  of  the  votes,  paid  two-thirds  of  the  custom 
duties,  and  as  our  government  was  a  compact,  the  government 
could  not  be  superior  to  the  States — so  Congress  was  over-step 
ping  its  powers,  and  she  contended  that  a  tax  on  one  part  of  the 
country  could  not  be  laid  to  protect  the  industries  of  another 
part.  (Constitution — Section  VIII.,  Clause  1). 

The  South  contended  that  the  Tariff  Acts  of  1828,  1832,  and 
1833  were  violations  of  the  Compact  or  Constitution  for  "taxa 
tion  was  not  uniform, ' '  and  one  section  was  discriminated  against 
in  favor  of  the  other.  The  Cotton  States  particularly  suffered 
by  these  traiff  acts. 

What  had  the  North  to  say  to  this? 

When  THOMAS  HART  BENTON,  of  Missouri,  in  referring  to  the 
Tariff  Acts,  said : 

' '  Under  Federal  legislation  the  exports  of  the  South  have 
been  the  basis  of  the  Federal  revenues — everything  goes  out 
and  nothing  is  returned  to  them  in  the  shape  of  government 
expenditures.  The  expenditures  flow  North.  This  is  the 
reason  why  wealth  disappears  from  the  South  and  rises  up 
in  the  North.  No  tariff  has  yet  included  Georgia,  Virginia, 
or  the  two  Carolinas,  except  to  increase  the  burdens  imposed 
upon  them.  The  political  economists  of  the  North,  Carey, 
Elliott,  Kettel  and  others  who  have  studied  the  source  of 
National  wealth  in  America,  said,  'Mr.  Benton  is  right  in 
the  explanation  given  of  the  sudden  disappearance  of  wealth 
from  the  South. '  ' 

And  when  the  abolitionists  tried  to  contend  that  slavery  was 
the  cause  of  this  not  the  tariff,  Prof.  Elliott,  a  teacher  of  Science 
at  Harvard,  denied  that  it  was  slavery  that  had  impoverished 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  45 

the  South,  and  said  it  was  Federal  legislation  in  regard  to  the 

Tariff  Acts. 

BLEDSOE'S  "War  Between  the  States,"  (p.  225),  said: 

"This  legislation,  so  unjust  to  the  South,  left  in  the 
minds  of  the  men  of  the  South  a  deep  and  abiding  sense  of 
the  injustice  of  Northern  legislation." 

Then  the  editor  of  "Southern  Wealth  and  Northern  Profits," 
a  Northern  man,  said : 

"It  is  gross  injustice,  if  not  hypocrisy,  to  be  always 
growing  rich  on  the  profits  of  slave  labor;  and  at  the  same 
time  to  be  eternally  taunting  and  insulting  the  South  on 
acconut  of  slavery.  Though  you  bitterly  denounce  slavery 
as  the  'sum  of  all  villainies,'  it  is  nevertheless  the  principal 
factor  (by  high  tariff)  of  your  Northern  wealth,  and  you 
know  it." 

FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW. 

The  South  claimed  that  their  slaves  were  their  property, 
bought  from  the  Northern  slave  dealer  with  their  money,  and 
not  only  could  be  protected  by  the  Constitution  but,  by  a  later 
guarantee  which  had  been  given  by  the  Compromises  of  1850, 
returned  to  them  when  they  ran  away. 

What  does  the  North  say? 

CHIEF  JUSTICE   STORY,   of  the  United   States   Supreme   Court, 
said : 

"The  master  has  the  right  to  seize  the  runaway  slave  in 
any  State  of  the  Union." 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  in  a  speech  at  Peoria,  111.,  in  1854,  said : 

"The  slaveholder  has  a  legal  and  moral  right  to  his 
slaves. ' ' 

See  also  Amendment  IV.  of  the  United  States  Constitution. 
JUDGE  BLACK,  in  his  "Essays,"  p.  153,  says: 

"That   'Higher   Law'   which   gave   the   Federal   govern 
ment  power  to  legislate  against  the  Southern  States  in  de 
fiance  of  the  Constitution  would  logically  justify  any  execu 
tive  outrage  that  might  be  desired  for  party  purposes  on 
the  life,  liberty  and  property  of  individuals." 
The  interference  on  the  part  of  Northern  politicians  with  the 
institution  of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  the  slaveholder  to  take 
his  slaves  where  he  pleased  was  illegal  and  unconstitutional. 


46  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

This  claim  was  supported  by  Congress  when  Benjamin  Frank 
lin  and  the  Quakers  urged  the  freedom  of  the  slaves.  The  de 
cision  was  that  Congress  had  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery  or  the  slaveholders.  (See  Congressional 
Records). 

It  was  again  supported  by  the  decision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case 
—that  a  slave  being  carried  into  a  free  State  did  not  give  him 
his  freedom — only  the  slaveholder  himself  had  the  right  to  free 
his  slave.  ((See  Decision  of  Supreme  Court — Taney). 

THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  had  passed  the  following  reso 
lutions : 

"That  Congress  has  no  authority  to  interfere  in  the 
emancipation  of  slaves  or  in  the  treatment  of  them  within 
any  of  the  States;  it  remaining  with  the  several  States 
alone  to  provide  any  regulations  there  which  humanity 
and  true  policy  may  require." 

Lincoln  violated  the  Constitution  when  he  called  for  the 
militia  to  coerce  the  States. 

VIRGINIA'S  reply  was: 

"Virginians  will  never  join  you  in  your  open  and  known 
violation  of  the  Constitution  nor  unite  with  your  forces  in 
shedding  the  blood  of  Virginia's  brethren  for  support  of 
the  Union.  If  Virginians  must  fight  they  prefer  to  espouse 
the  cause  of  the  Constitution,  the  backbone  of  the  Union." 

EMANCIPATION. 

"Emancipation  is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  or  in  any  degree  at  the  disposition  of  the  United  States 
government,  and  can  mean  nothing  else  than  revolution  for 
which  the  abolitionists  are  striving.  Revolution  can  only 
be  justified  by  oppression  and  the  power  of  oppression  is 
not  with  the  South." 

A  RESOLUTION   was  passed  unanimously  by  Congress  July  23, 
1861: 

"The  war  is  waged  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  not  in  the  spirit  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  nor  for 
the  purpose  of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the  rights 
or  institutions  of  the  States,  but  to  defend  and  maintain 
the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  and  to  preserve  the 
Union  with  all  the  dignity,  equality  and  rights  of  the  several 
States  unimpaired." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  47 

McCLURE,  an  ardent  admirer  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  says: 

"As  the  sworn  executive  of  the  Nation,  it  was  his  duty  to 
obey  the  Constitution,  in  all  its  provisions,  and  he  accepted 
that  duty  without  reservations — yet  in  eighteen  months  he 
issued  his  Emancipation  Proclamation.'* 

JAMES  FORD  RHODES,  of  Massachusetts,  Vol.  IV,  p.  213,  says: 

"  There  was,  as  every  one  knows,  no  authority  for  the 
proclamation  in  the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  nor  was  there 
any  statute  that  warranted  it. ' ' 

THE  SUPREME  COURT  of  the  United  States  in  its  ruling  said : 

"Any  doctrine  which  leads  to  the  suspension  of  any  of 
the  provisioas  of  the  Constitution  during  the  exigencies  of 
government  leads  directly  to  anarchy  or  despotism. ' ' 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  CHASE  said : 

"Neither  President,  nor  Congress,  nor  Courts  possess  any 
power  not  given  by  the  Constitution." 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  said: 

"I  have  no  Constitutional  right  to  free  your  slaves  and 
I  have  no  desire  to  do  so." 

HORTON,  in  his  "Youth's  History  of  the  Civil  War/'  p.  51,  says: 

"The  great  leaders  of  the  South  were  begging  and  im 
ploring  that  the  Union  should  be  preserved." 

FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH. 

As  was  the  case  of  Vallandigham  in  Ohio  men  were  throws 
into  prison  for  daring  to  say  the  South  was  right. 

JAMES  FORD  RHODES,  (Vol.  III.,  p.  232),  says: 

"Mr.  Lincoln  stands  responsible  for  the  casting  into 
prisons  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  orders  as  arbitrary 
as  the  Lettres  De  Cachet  of  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  instead 
of  their  arrest  as  in  Great  Britain  in  her  crisis  on  legal  ar 
rests  " 

GEORGE  BANCROFT,  "Life  of  Seward,"  (Vol.  II,  p.  254),  says: 
"Some  of  the  features  of  these  arbitrary  arrests  bore  a 
striking  resemblance  to  the  odious   institution  of  the  an 
cient  regime  of  France — the  Bastile  and  Lettres  De  Cachet." 


48  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

WRIT  OF  HABEAS  CORPUS  SUSPENDED. 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  Albany,  N.  Y. : 

"The  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  was  for  the  pur 
pose  that  men  may  be  arrested  and  held  in  prison  who  can 
not  be  proved  guilty  of  any  defined  crime." 

"A  Mary  lander  was  seized  by  a  party  of  soldiers  and  im 
prisoned  in  Fort  McHenry.  His  friends  asked  Chief  Jus 
tice  Taney,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  which  was  granted,  but  the  soldier  said  President 
Lincoln  had  authorized  him  to  suspend  the  writ.  Judge 
Taney  said  the  President  had  no  such  power." 

JUDGE  BLACK,  of  Pennsylvania,  in  his  Essays,  says : 

"A  perfectly  innocent  and  most  respectable  woman  was 
lawlessly  dragged  from  her  family  and  brutally  put  to 
death,  without  judge  or  upon  the  mere  order  of  certain  mil 
itary  officers  convoked  for  that  purpose.  It  was,  take  it  all 
in  all,  as  foul  a  murder  as  ever  blackened  the  face  of  God's 
sky.  It  was  done  in  strict  accordance  with  that  'Higher 
Law'  and  the  Law  Department  of  the  United  States  ap 
proved  it." 
(See  also  Reverdy  Johnson's  testimony). 

BARNES'  Popular  History,  p.  597: 

"Booth's  accomplices  were  arrested,  tried  by  a  military 
court  and  convicted." 

THE  EXECUTION  OF  HENRY  WIRZ. 

"'He  was  tried  out  of  his  State  b}^  suborned  witnesses — 
all  witnesses  in  his  defense  were  not  permitted  to  be  ad 
mitted  to  the  stand — and  judge  and  jury  partial." 
(See  testimony  of  Louis  Schade,  his  lawyer). 

EXTRACTS  taken  from  Page's  "True  History  of  Andersonville" : 

"Major  Wirz  was  the  object  of  that  popular  injustice 
that  personifies  causes  and  demands  victims  for  unpopular 
movements.  All  the  accumulated  passions  of  the  war  were 
concentrated  up<?n  this  one  man.  He  was  the  magnet  that 
drew  the  Northern  wrath  to  satiety." 

"The  South  never  believed  that  Wirz  was  guilty  nor  any 
body  else  was  guilty  of  the  crimes  alleged  against  him.  The 
crimes  could  not  have  been  committed  without  their  knowl 
edge.  When,  therefore,  Captain  Wirz,  standing  under  the 
gallows  and  on  the  very  brink  of  the  grave,  declared  his 
innocence  they  believed  he  spoke  the  truth." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  49 

"The  War  Minister  of  the  Government  taking  counsel  of 
his  passions,  his  prejudices  and  his  hatreds,  sought  by  the 
conviction  and  execution  of  Wirz  to  write  a  false  chapter  in 
the  history  of  the  war  to  infamize  the  South." 

'One  of  the  most  truthful  and  reliable  men  of  Georgia, 
an  eminent  surgeon,  was  summoned  to  Washington  for  the 
prosecution.  Supposing  that  the  Judge  Advocate  was  de 
sirous  of  getting  the  truth,  went  to  him  before  the  trial  to 
tell  him  that  the  vaccine  matter  used  upon  the  prisoners 
was  the  same  that  was  used  upon  the  women  and  children 
in  the  country,  having  been  introduced  into  the  South  from 
abroad,  and  had  the  same  effect  upon  the  women  and  chil 
dren  as  it  had  upon  the  prisoners. 

"The  Judge  Advocate  did  not  allude  to  this  testimony 
when  the  witness  was  called  to  the  stand,  and  when  the 
counsel  for  defense  recalled  him  to  the  stand  to  explain 
this  matter,  the  Judge  Advocate  used  all  his  legal  ingenuity 
to  prevent  the  truth  being  told." 

"When  one  of  the  prisoners  was  called  as  a  witness,  he 
testified  to  a  chapter  of  horrors,  and  on  leaving  the  stand 
another  prisoner  accosted  him  and  asked  him  why  he  had 
said  those  things,  his  reply  was:  'I  swore  to  a  lie,  and  if  I 
could  return  to  the  stand  I  would  swear  it  all  away. ' ' 

"The  military  gentlemen  who  composed  the  commission 
with  Mr.  Stanton  at  their  back  have  had  their  fleeting  tri 
umph.  Wirz  will  have  his  in  history.  The  day  will  yet 
come  when  they  will  deplore  the  parts  they  have  played  in 
this  disreputable  tragedy." 

"He  was  doomed  before  he  was  heard,  and  even  the  per 
mission  to  be  heard  according  to  law  was  denied  him." 
(p.  236). 

"On  the  evening  before  his  execution  some  officers  came 
to  Wirz's  Confessor,  Father  Boyle,  and  also  to  me — Louis 
Schade,  his  attorney,  one  of  them  informing  me  that  a  high 
Cabinet  official  wished  to  assure  Wirz  that  if  he  would  im 
plicate  Jefferson  Davis  with  the  atrocities  committed  at 
Andersonville,  his  sentence  would  be  commuted.  The  mes 
senger  wished  me  to  inform  Wirz  of  this.  In  the  presence 
of  Father  Boyle,  I  told  Wirz  this.  His  reply  was,  "Jeffer 
son  Davis  had  no  connection  with  me  as  to  what  was  done 
at  Andersonville,  and  if  I  knew  anything  about  him  I  would 
not  become  a  traitor  to  save  my  life."  (p.  237). 

"All  connected  with  Wirz  have  been  released  except 
Jefferson  Davis.  Now  as  Wirz  could  not  conspire  alone, 
nobody  now,  in  view  of  this  fact,  considers  him  guilty." 


50  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

History  records  that  Henry  Wirz  could  not  be  convicted 
on  any  charge  brought  against  him. 

' 'I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  out  of  the  160  witnesses 
that  testified,  145  declared  that  Captain  Wirz  never  mur 
dered  or  killed  any  Union  prisoners  with  his  own  hands  or 
otherwise."  (p.  239). 

No  names  of  the  alleged  murdered  men  could  ever  be  given, 
and  when  it  was  stated  that  a  murder  had  been  committed,  no 
such  prisoners  could  be  found  or  identified.  Those  who  were 
said  to  have  died  from  wounds  inflicted  by  Wirz  in  many  cases 
lived  five  or  six  days,  yet  died  nameless.  This  alone  would  tes 
tify  to  the  falsity  of  the  charges. 
Louis  SCHADE,  Wirz's  attorney: 

"  Secretary  Stanton  denied  Christian  burial  to  Captain 
Wirz.  He  lies  side  by  side  with  the  remains  of  Mrs.  Sur- 
ratt,  another  and  acknowledged  victim  of  military  com 
mission  in  the  yard  of  the  former  jail  of  this  city." 

PA  E'S  History,  p.  247 : 

"To  my  fellow  prisoners  that  still  insist  that  Captain 
Wirz  was  guilty  and  merited  his  tragic  death:  Do  you 
know  of  your  own  personal  knowledge  that  he  ever  maimed 
or  killed  a  Union  prisoner  of  war?  Isn't  it  prejudice  pure 
and  simple,  prejudice  caused  by  your  privations  and  suffer 
ings  at  Andersonville?  Could  you  have  done  better  had 
you  been  in  his  place?  I  judge  Henry  Wirz  from  my  per 
sonal  knowledge  of  his  character.  Let  us  be  fair  about  the 
matter." 

M.  L.  Haley,  No.  819  Fifth  Avenue,  Helena,  Montana,  says 
his  friend,  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville,  told  him  that  the  Henry 
Wirz  that  he  knew  at  Andersonville,  and  the  Henry  Wirz  tried 
at  Washington  were  two  different  persons.  He  had  charge  of 
100  men  and  he  twice  saw  Wirz  burst  into  tears  when  he  saw  the 
men  suffering  and  he  could  not  help  them. 

Some  of  the  prisoners  who  were  at  Andersonville  testify  that 
Glazier's,  Kellogg 's,  Spencer's,  and  Urban 's  histories  of  Ander 
sonville  are  absolutely  untruthful. 
GENERAL  0.  II.  LAGRANGE,  of  the  Federal  Army,  said: 

"My  personal  observation  of  Wirz  leaves  no  doubt  in  my 
mind  that  h  e  was  sacrificed  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  class 
of  people  who  demanded  his  life  to  satisfy  their  revengeful 
spirit.  I  was  summoned  as  a  witness  and  saw  the  feeling 
underlying  the  fearful  prosecution." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  51 

THE  XIV.  AND  XV.  AMENDMENTS. 

HORTON  says: 

"The  war  changed  the  entire  character  and  system  of 
our  government,  overthrew  the  rights  of  States,  and  forced 
amendments  against  the  action  of  the  people,  which  made 
those  amendments  unconstitutional/' 

"Constitutional  View  of  the  War,"  Stephen*,  p.  15: 

"The  South  claimed  that  the  States  under  Reconstruction 
were  required  and  literally  compelled  to  form  such  consti 
tutions  as  suited  the  dominant  faction  at  "Washington,  and 
that  while  enfranchising  the  millions  of  blacks  in  our  midst 
they  denied  the  whites  in  those  States  the  right  to  make 
Constitutions  to  secure  safety  and  happiness." 

Therefore,  they  regard  both  of  those  Amendments  XIV.  and 
XV.  as  unconstitutional. 

THE  CHICAGO  CHRONICLE: 

"The  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  grew 
out  of  revenge,  for  the  purpose  of  punishing  the  Southern 
people.  It  became  a  part  of  the  Constitution  by  fraud  and 
force  to  secure  the  results  of  war.  The  war  was  not  fought 
to  secure  negro  suffrage." 

While  Congress  did  not  explicitly  promise  that  it  would  admit 
the  Representatives  and  Senators  of  the  States  which  ratified  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment,  it  doubtless  would  have  done  so ;  but 
every  one  (except  Sumner)  was  indignant  at  the  disqualifying 
clause  and  overwhelmingly  rejected  the  Amendment.  It  thus 
failed  to  secure  the  votes  of  three-fourths  of  the  States  of  the 
Union  for  ratification. 

Congress  angered  by  this  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  South, 
decided  to  take  the  reconstruction  of  the  States  entirely  into 
is  own  hands.  This  was  a  violation  of  the  Constitution. 

"The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  the 
Union  a  Republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion  and  domestic  violence." 

BLOCKADE. 

The  Federal  government  asserted  that  the  seceding  States 
were  still  in  the  Union — then  how  could  they  invade  and  destroy 
homes  and  property,  and  how  blockade  their  ports? 

"The  blockade  acknowledged  the  Confederacy  a  bellig- 


52  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

erent  power  outside  of  the  Union;  since  no  nation  can  block 
ade  its  own  ports.  President  Lincoln  would  never  acknowl 
edge  that  the  Southern  States  were  out  of  the  Union,  so 
when  he  declared  a  blockade  and  England  and  France  pro 
claimed  neutrality  between  the  belligerents  he  became 
greatly  stirred  and  truly,  if  the  truth  be  known,  this  led  to 
his  Emancipation  Act." 

FREEDOM  OF  PRESS. 
JOHN  FREMONT: 

"The  administration  has  managed  the  war  for  personal 
ends,  and  with  incapacity  and  selfish  disregard  of  Constitu 
tional  rights,  with  violation  of  personal  liberty  of  the  press. ' ' 

DECISIONS  OF  THE  SUPREME  COURT. 

CHAS.  FRANCIS  ADAMS,  JR. 

"By  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of 
Dred  Scott,  it  would  seem  that  the  South  has  won  every 
point.  It  had  demanded  all  for  slavery,  and  had,  at  last, 
received  it  from  the  supreme  judicial  tribunal  of  the  land. 
To  interfere  with  slavery  now  would  be  to  violate  the  su 
preme  law.  This  decision  puts  the  burden  of  good  be 
havior  on  the  North,  for  the  South  has  always  held  that 
decision  was  the  supreme  law  of  the  land." 

J.  G.  HOLLAND'S  "Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  p.  284: 

"The  South  stood  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court 
—the  North  did  not  and  Lincoln  did  not.  In  his  Inaugural 
Address  Lincoln  said,  'If  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court  are  irrevocably  fixed,  then  the  people  cease  to  be 
their  own  masters,  and  practically  resign  their  government 
into  the  hands  of  that  eminent  tribunal." 

REPORT  FROM  THE  CHARLESTON  CONVENTION,  1860 : 

"The  Southern  representatives  said  that  they  would  stand 
by  the  Constitution  and  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court 
whether  for  or  against  the  South,  and  the  Northern  repre 
sentatives  refused  to  stand  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court  and  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  land." 

BARNES'  "Popular  History,"  p.  476,  in  the  Dred  Scott  case: 

"Judge  Taney  affirmed  that  negroes  were  not  citizens 
and  that  Congress  had  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to 
forbid  slavery  in  the  Territories." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  53 

LINCOLN,  in  his  Cooper  Institute  Speech,  said : 

"In  spite  of  Judge  Taney's  decision,  Congress  did  have 
a  right  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories." 

SQUATTER  SOVEREIGNTY. 

VON  HOLST,  "The  Construction  Construed": 

"The  Republican  platform  which  elected  Abraham  Lin 
coln  declared  the  Dred  Scott  decision  a  political  heresy,  the 
Missouri  Compromise  unconstitutional  and  Squatter  Sov 
ereignty  unconstitutional  because  it  allowed  a  territorial 
government  to  exclude  slavery." 

THE  TRENT  AFFAIR. 

"On  August  29,  1861,  President  Davis  appointed  James 
M.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  and  John  Sidell,  of  Louisiana,  com 
missioners  to  England  and  France  to  place  the  Confed 
eracy  in  the  right  light  before  these  two  great  nations. 
They  ran  the  blockade  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  October  12, 
1861,  and  proceeded  to  Havana,  and  sailed  for  Southamp 
ton,  England,  on  the  Trent,  commanded  by  Captain  Wilkes. 
The  commissioners  were  taken  from  the  ship  with  their  sec 
retaries  and  taken  to  Fort  Warren  to  be  imprisoned.  The 
North  highly  approved  of  this  act  and  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  with  the  President's  approval  voted  Captain 
Wilkes  a  gold  medal.  This  was  a  direct  violation  of  the 
International  Law  and  England  demanded  their  release 
and  an  apology.  The  United  States  government,  through 
its  representative,  Mr.  Seward,  did  both  and  did  it  quickly." 

XIII. 
Jefferson  Davis  Must  Have  His  Rightful  Place  in  History. 

The  United  States  government  is  indebted  to  Jefferson  Davis 
for  the  following  services : 

Distinguished  services  in  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

Served  valiantly  in  the  war  with  Mexico. 

Hero  at  Monterey ;  wounded  at  Buena  Vista ;  scaled  the  walls 
of  the  City  of  Mexico. 

He  introduced  the  wedge  movement  and  saved  the  day  at 
Buena  Vista. 

United  States  Senator  from  Mississippi. 

Secretary  of  War  in  Pierce 's  Cabinet. 


54  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

First  to  suggest  trans-continental  railroads  connecting  the 
Atlantic  with  the  Pacific. 

First  to.  suggest  camels  as  ships  of  the  uninhabitable  West  to 
convey  military  stores. 

First  to  suggest  buying  Panama  Canal  Zone. 

First  to  suggest  buying  Cuba. 

He  planned  American  trade  with  China  and  Japan. 

He  suggested  closer  relations  with  South  America. 

He  urged  preparedness  for  war. 

He  enlarged  the  United  States.  Army  by  four  regiments. 

He  organized  cavalry  service  adapted  to  our  needs. 

He  introduced  light  infantry  or  rifle  system  of  tactics. 

He  caused  the  manufacture  of  guns,  rifles  and  pistols. 

He  rendered  invaluable  services  to  Colt's  Armory. 

He  ordered  the  frontier  surveyed. 

He  put  young  officers  in  training  for  surveying  expeditions. 

He  sent  George  D.  McClellan  to  Crimea  to  study  the  military 
tactics  of  the  British  and  Russian  armies. 

He  appointed  Robert  E.  Lee  as  Superintendent  of  West  Point. 

He  advanced  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  to  important  posts. 

He  had  forts  repaired  and  many  of  them  rebuilt. 

He  strengthened  forts  on  the  Western  frontier,  frequently 
drawing  on  arsenals  in  the  South  to  do  it. 

He  had  the  Western  part  of  the  continent  explored  for  scien 
tific,  geographical  and  railroad  work. 

He  was  responsible  for  the  new  Senate  Hall,  the  new  House 
of  Representatives,  and  for  the  extension  of  many  public  build 
ings  in  Washington,  especially  the  Treasury  Building. 

He  was  responsible  for  the  construction  of  the  aqueduct  sys 
tem  in  the  Nation's  capital. 

He  was  responsible  for  "Armed  Liberty"  on  the  Capitol  hav 
ing  a  helmet  of  eagle  feathers  instead  of  the  cap  of  a  pagan 
goddess. 

He  had  Cabin  John  Bridge  built  with  its  span  of  220  feet. 

He  was  United  States  Senator  under  President  Buchanan. 

lie  was  nominated  for  President  by  Massachusetts  men  in 
1860. 

He  refused  to  allow  his  name  to  be  presented  for  President  at 
the  Charleston  Convention. 

He  stood  strongly  for  the  Union,  but  stressed  the  constitu 
tional  riorht  of  a  State  to  secede. 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  55 

He  did  secede  with  Mississippi,  as  he  had  been  taught  at  West 
Point. 

He  stood  for  what  Lincoln  preached  but  did  not  practice — 
"Not  to  overthrow  the  Constitution,  but  to  overthrow  the  men 
who  perverted  the  Constitution. " 

Nowhere  did  his  genius  display  itself  more  signally  than  as 
Secretary  of  War  under  Franklin  Pierce. 
RECORDS  OP  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  Washington  City : 

"He  revised  the  Army  Regulations,  showing  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  subject  and  a  matserful  grasp  of  the  needs 
of  our  army,  as  well  as  the  armies  of  Europe. 

"That  he  believed  in  preparedness  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  he  insisted  upon  the  addition  of  four  regiments  to  the 
army  and  organized  a  cavalry  service  peculiarly  adapted  to 
the  wants  of  the  country ;  introduced  light  infantry,  or  the 
rifle  system  of  tactics,  and  caused  the  manufacture  of  rifles, 
muskets  and  pistols.  He  gave  such  valuable  suggestions  t« 
workmen  at  Colt's  Armory  that  they  made  him  a  pistol  on 
the  silver  breech  of  which  they  engraved  the  words:  'To  a 
brother  inventor.' 

"Through  his  influence  numberless  forts  were  repaired 
and  rehabilitated,  the  frontier  defences  strengthened,  and 
the  Wetsern  part  of  the  continent  explored  for  scientific, 
geographical  and  railroad  purposes.  It  is  with  pride  we 
look  back  upon  his  work  in  the  Coast  Survey  question,  for 
he  was  recognized  as  the  ablest  and  best  posted  defender  in 
this  work.  Under  the  supervision  of  the  War  Department, 
during  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Davis'  service,  the  extension  of 
the  new  Capitol  was  energetically  prosecuted.  He  stood  by 
General  Meigs  in  all  his  efforts  to  construct  the  waterworks, 
finish  the  Capitol  building  on  the  grandest  scale,  and  to 
push  forward  the  extension  of  the  Treasury  Department. 
A  splendid  stone  aqueduct,  which  spans  220  feet,  a  few 
miles  from  Washington,  built  during  Mr.  Davis'  term  as 
Secretary  of  War,  still  remains  a  monument  to  his  earnest 
labor  for  the  benefit  of  the  capitol.  Tt  is  known  as  'Cabin 
John  Bridge. '  : 

IN  EWING'S  book,  "Northern  Rebellion  Against  the  Constitution 
Producing  Southern  Secession/'  he  shows  up  Kansas  in  her 
true  light : 

"The  fight  against  the  South  crystallized  in  Kansas. 
The  rebellion  was  open  against  the  government,  and  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  when  Secretary  of  War,  had  to  put  down  that 
rebellion  and  restore  peace  and  order.  John  Brown  re- 


56  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

opened   the  fight   in  Kansas,   later  taking  it  to   Harper's 
Ferry. ' ' 

A  tribute  from  one  of  the  North  who  served  with  Davis  in  the 
War  with  Mexico  is: 

"Fellow  citizens:  I  was  at  Buena  Vista.  I  saw  the  bat 
tle  lost  and  victory  in  the  grasp  of  the  brutal  and  accursed 
foe.  I  saw  the  favorite  son  of  'Harry  of  the  West,'  my 
colonel,  weltering  in  his  blood  as  he  died  on  the  field.  I 
saw  death  or  captivity  worse  than  death  in  store  for  every 
Kentuckian  on  that  gory  day.  Everything  seemed  lost  and 
was  hopeless  when  a  Mississippi  regiment  with  Jefferson 
Davis  at  its  head  appeared  on  the  scene.  I  see  him  now  as 
he  was  then — the  incarnation  of  battle,  the  avatar  of  rescue. 
He  turned  the  tide;  he  snatched  victory  from  defeat:  he 
saved  the  army;  his  heroic  hand  wrote  'Buena  Vista'  in 
letters  of  everlasting  glory  on  our  proud  escutcheon,  a  hero, 
my  countryman,  my  brother,  my  rescuer.  He  is  no  less  so 
this  day,  and  I  would  strike  the  shackles  from  his  aged 
limbs  and  make  his  as  free  as  the  vital  air  of  heaven,  and 
clothe  him  with  every  right  I  enjoy,  had  I  the  power." 

CONGRESSIONAL  RECORDS  :  On  May  24,  1850,  Jefferson  Davis,  of 
Mississippi,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  passed  a  set 
of  resolutions  containing  this  extract: 

"Any  intermeddling  of  any  one  or  more  States  by  a  com 
bination  of  citizens  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  other 
States,  on  any  pretext,  whatever,  political,  moral,  or  re 
ligious,  with  a  view  of  disturbance  in  violation  of  the  Con 
stitution,  is  insulting  to  the  States  so  interfered  with  and 
tends  to  weaken  the  Union." 

The  Resolutions  passed  36  to  19.  Eight  States  refused  to 
vote  and  these  eight  States  were  the  ones  that  had  nullified  the 
Fugitive  Slave  law  and  later  elected  Abraham  Lincoln  President. 
The  South  knew  this  and  resented  Lincoln's  election. 

His  speech  as  Fanueil  Hall,  Boston,  1853,  was  a  masterly 
effort  in  defence  of  the  South  and  the  Constitutional  right  of 
slavery.  When  it  was  known  that  he  was  to  make  his  Farewell 
Address  to  the  Senate  in  1861,  the  House  of  Representatives 
came  in  a  body  to  hear  him. 

It  was  at  West  Point  he  studied  Rawle's  "View  of  the  Con 
stitution,"  which  taught  him  that  if  a  State  seceded — showing 
that  it  was  an  acknowledged  fact  by  the  Constitution  that  a 
State  had  the  right  to  secede — the  duty  of  a  soldier  reverted  to 
his  State — hence  Davis,  Robert  E.  Lee,  Thomas  J.  Jackson,  the 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  57 

Johnstons  and  others,  acting  upon  this  instruction,  cast  their 
lot  with  their  States  in  1861.  Thus  it  happened  that  when  in 
1865  the  question  of  a  trial  of  Jefferson  Davis  was  agitated, 
Chief  Justice  Chase  said  that  a  trial  would  condemn  the  North, 
and  so  no  trial  was  ever  held.  He  was  released  on  bail  but  his 
political  disabilities  were  never  removed. 
JEROME  E.  TITLOW,,  the  one  sent  to  manacle  him,  said : 

"Upon  him  criticism  expended  all  its  arrows  and  yet  no 
blemish  was  found." 

Men  who  did  not  love  him  or  admire  him  as  a  politician  were 
forced  to  acknowledge  his  fine  traits  of  character. 
NEW  YORK  WORLD: 

"Jefferson  Davis  was  a  man  of  commanding  ability,  spot 
less  integrity,  controlling  conscience,  and  a  temper  so  res 
olute  that  at  times  it  approached  obstinacy.  He  was  proud, 
sensitive  and  honorable  in  all  his  dealings  and  in  every  re 
lation  of  life/' 

THE  EDITOR  of  the  New  York  Sun  said : 

"Amid  irreparable  disaster,  Jefferson  Davis  was  sus 
tained  by  a  serene  consciousness  that  he  had  done  a  man's 
work  according  to  his  lights,  and  that,  while  unable  to  com 
mand  success,  he  had  striven  to  deserve  it.  Even  among 
those  who  looked  upon  him  with  least  sympathy  it  was  felt 
that  he  bore  defeat  and  humiliation  in  the  highest  Roman 
fashion. ' ' 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS,  JR.: 

"No  fatal  mistakes  either  of  administration  or  strategy 
were  made  which  can  be  fairly  laid  to  his  account.  He  did 
the  best  possible  with  the  means  that  he  had  at  his  com 
mand.  Merely  the  opposing  forces  were  too  many  and  too 
strong  for  him.  Of  his  austerity,  earnestness  and  fidelity 
there  can  be  no  more  question  that  can  be  entertained  of 
his  capacity." 

DR.  CRAVEN,  his  prison  physician,  gave  this  testimony: 

' '  The  more  I  saw  of  him  the  more  T  was  convinced  of  his 
sincere  religious  convictions.  He  impressed  me  more  with 
the  divine  origin  of  God's  Word  than  <:ny  professor  of 
Christianity  I  ever  met." 

Did  his  Christianity  extend  to  forgiveness  of  his  enemies.  A 
Northern  man,  Ridpath,  the  historian,  a  guest  at  Beauvoir,  tes 
tified  that  during  his  visit  he  never  heard  one  word  of  bitterness 


58  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

toward  any  man.  A  quotation  from  a  speech  made  to  the 
Mississippi  Legislature  March  10,  1884,  will  in  itself  suffice  to 
answer  this  question: 

"Our  people  have  accepted  that  decree;  it  therefore  be 
hooves  them,  as  they  may,  to  promote  the  general  welfare 
of  the  Union,  to  show  to  the  world  that  hereafter  as  here 
tofore,  the  patriotism  of  our  people  is  not  measured  by 
lines  of  latitude  and  longitude,  but  is  as  broad  as  the  obli 
gations  they  have  assumed  and  embraces  the  whole  of  our 
ocean-bound  domain.  Let  them  leave  to  their  children's 
children  the  good  example  of  never  swerving  from  the  path 
of  duty,  and  prefering  to  return  good  for  evil  rather  than 
to  cherish  the  unmanly  feeling  of  revenge." 

"When  the  news  came  that  Lee  must  fall  back  from  Peters 
burg,  which  meant  the  evacuation  of  Richmond,  and  a  possible 
surrender,  he  was  found  on  his  knees  in  prayer  in  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Richmond,  Va. 

Did  Jefferson  Davis  ever  regret  the  step  that  was  taken  in  re 
gard  to  secession? 

"It  has  been  said  that  I  should  apply  to  the  United 
States  for  a  pardon ;  but  repentance  must  precede  the  right 
of  pardon,  and  I  have  not  repented.  Remembering,  as  I 
must,  all  which  has  been  suffered,  all  which  has  been  lost, 
disappointed  hopes,  and  crushed  aspirations,  yet  I  delib 
erately  say,  if  it  were  to  do  over  again,  I  would  do  just  as 
I  did  in  1861. 

"Never  teach  your  children  to  admit  that  their  fathers 
were  wrong  in  their  effort  to  maintain  the  sovereignty, 
•freedom  and  independence  which  was  their  inalienable 
birthright.  I  cannot  believe  that  the  causes  for  which  our 
sacrifices  were  made  can  ever  be  lost,  but  rather  hope  that 
those  who  now  deny  the  justice  of  our  asserted  claims  will 
learn  from  experience  that  the  fathers  builded  wisely  and 
the  Constitution  should  be  construed  according  to  the  com 
mentaries  of  those  men  who  made  it." 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  CHASE: 

"If  Jefferson  Davis  be  brought  to  trial  it  will  convict  the 
North  and  exonerate  the  South.' 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  59 

II. 

CHARLES  O'CONNOR: 

"Rawle's  'View  of  the  Constitution'  and  Bledsoe's  'Is 
Davis  a  Traitor?',  would  have  won  the  case  without  further 
testimony  had  it  come  to  trial."  (The  Trial  of  Jefferson 
Davis). 

On  page  44  of  "The  Republic  of  Republics/'  is  found  this  state 
ment: 

"A  solemn  consultation  of  a  small  number  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  of  the  North  was  held  in  Washington  to  discuss  the 
question  whether  the  Federal  Government  should  commence 
a  criminal  prosecution  against  Jefferson  Davis  for  his  par 
ticipation  and  leadership  in  the  War  of  Secession.  The 
council  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  secrecy.  Among 
those  present  were  Attorney-General  Speed,  efudge  Clif 
ford  Wm.  Evarts,  and  perhaps  a  dozen  others  who  had  been 
selected  from  the  whole  Northern  profession  for  their  legal 
ability  and  acumen,  and  the  result  of  their  deliberation  was 
the  sudden  abandonment  of  the  idea  of  prosecution  in  view 
of  the  insurmountable  difficulties  of  securing  conviction," 

Charles  O'Connor,  one  of  Mr.  Davis'  counsel  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  lawyers  in  the  United  States,  after  reading 
the  lines  of  argument  by  Dr.  Bledsoe  in  "Is  Davis  a  Traitor?" 
wrote  to  him  that  with  so  admirably  prepared,  and -overwhelm 
ingly  conclusive  brief  as  was  contained  in  his  book,  his  task  of 
defending  Mr.  Davis  would  be  easy  indeed. 
REV.  DR.  BACON,,  of  Assouet,  Massachusetts,  said : 

"While  the  trial  of  Mr.  Davis  was  pending,  Mr.  Wm.  B. 
Reed,  one  of  the  counsel  for  defence,  was  a  member  of  my 
brother's  congregation  at  Orange,  N.  J.  He  told  my 
brother  that  if  the  case  had  come  to  trial,  Rawle's  'View  of 
the  Constitution,'  the  textbook  from  which  Davis  had  been 
instructed  at  West  Point,  would  have  been  used  in  his 
defense,  and  when  this  was  learned,  it  was  decided  the  trial 
was  not  to  take  place."  (See  North  American  Review , 
September,  1904). 

Charles  Francis  Adams  testified  that  before  Story 's  Commen 
taries  were  published  in  1833,  Rawle's  'View  of  the  Constitu 
tion/  (published  in  1825)  was  the  textbook  at  West  Point,  and 
continued  in  use  up  to  1840. 


60  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

R.  G.  HORTON,  in  his  "Youth's  History  of  the  Civil  War,"  pub 
lished  in  1868,  on  page  384,  says: 

"It  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  the  abolitionists  will 
ever  dare  to  bring  Mr.  Davis  before  a  fair  tribunal ;  for  in 
that  case  they  would  themselves  be  proved  the  traitors  and 
rebels  which  they  accuse  him  of  being.  Probably  under 
some  pretext  he  will  be  allowed  liberty  and  thus  end  the 
last  act  in  the  four  years  tragedy  of  sorrow. 

"His  counsel  demanded  a  speedy  trial  knowing  he  would 
be  vindicated.  The  Federal  Government  postponed  the  trial 
three  years.  When,  at  last,  the  case  was  called  Chief  Jus 
tice  Chase  blocked  the  prosecution  by  some  technical  point 
and  referred  the  decision  to  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  that 
case,  today,  rests  on  the  Supreme  Court  docket  never  to 
be  brought  to  trial — what  does  this  prove?  It  completely 
vindicates  the  man  and  the  cause," 

In  1876,  eleven  years  after  the  South  surrendered,  Mr.  James 
G.  Blaine  of  Maine, 'stood  up  in  Congress  and  poured  out  "a 
lot  of  hate-born  lies  as  malignant  as  human  tongue  ever  uttered 
or  human  brain  ever  concocted  : ' ' 

"Mr.  Davis,"  cried  Mr.  Blaine,  "was  the  author,  know 
ingly,  deliberately,  guiltily,  and  willfully,  of  the  gigantic 
murders  and  crimes  at  Andersonville.  And  I  here  before 
God,  measuring  my  words,  knowing  their  full  intent,  and 
import,  declare  that  neither  the  deeds  of  the  Duke  of  Alva 
in  the  Low  Country,  nor  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
nor  the  thumb  screws,  and  other  engine  of  torture  of  the 
Inquisition,  begin  to  compare  in  atrocity  with  the  hideous 
crimes  of  Andersonville. ' ' 

MR.  HILI/S  reply: 

"If  nine  per  cent,  of  the  men  in  Southern  prisons  were 
starved  and  tortured  to  death  by  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  who 
tortured  to  death  the  twelve  per  cent,  of  the  Southern  men 
who  died  in  Northern  prisons?"  (See  "Secretary  Stan- 
ton's  Statistics." 

Judge  Shea  was  sent  in  1866  to  Canada  to  examine  the  secret 
sessions'  records  of  the  Confederate  Government.  Through  the 
courtesy  of  General  John  C.  Breckenridge,  Judge  Shea  was  al 
lowed  to  examine  these  records,  especially  those  in  regard  to  the 
care  of  and  exchange  of  prisoners.  This  was  taken  from  Judge 
Shea's  report : 

"It  was  decisively  manifest  that  Mr.  Davis  steadily  and 
unflinchingly  set  himself  in  opposition  to  the  demands  for 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  61 

retaliation,  and  this  impaired  his  personal  influence  and 
brought  censure  upon  him  from  Southern  people.  These 
secret  sessions  show  that  Mr.  Davis  strongly  desired  to  do 
something  which  would  secure  better  treatment  of  his  men 
in  Northern  prisons;  and  would  place  the  war  on  the  foot 
ing  of  wars  waged  by  people  in  modern  times,  and  divest  it 
of  a  savage  character.  Mr.  Davis  never  did  yield  to  the 
continual  demand  for  retaliation. ' ' 

RUSSELL'S  Diary,  p.  163;  Correspondence  to  London  Times: 

' l  The  stories  which  have  been  so  sedulously  spread  of  the 
barbarity  and  cruelty  of  the  Confederates  to  all  the  wound 
ed  Union  men  ought  to  be  set  at  rest  by  the  printed  state 
ments  of  the  eleven  Union  surgeons,  just  released,  who  have 
come  back  from  Richmond,  where  they  were  sent  after  their 
capture  on  the  field  of  Bull  Run,  with  the  most  distinct 
testimony  that  the  Confederates  treated  their  prisoners 
with  humanity.  Who  are  the  miscreants  who  assert  that,  the 
rebels  burned  the  wounded  in  hospitals  and  bayoneted  them 
as  they  lay  helpless  on  the  battlefield?" 

EDITOR  of  the  New  Haven  ( Conn. )  Register  says : 

"There  is  something  to  say  about  Jefferson  Davis  and 
his  admission  to  the  Hall  of  Fame.  It  is  high  time  it  was 
said.  It  is  high  time  that  the  mist  which  for  half  a  century 
has  distorted  the  North's  view  of  this  son  of  the  South  was 
cleared  away.  It  is  in  justice  time  that  the  man,  who  in  his 
day  suffered  more  than  any  other  Southerner  for  the  cause 
in  which  he  believed,  should  cease  to  be  reckoned  a  traitor 
and  a  coward  and  be  esteemed  for  what  he  was,  a  brave, 

true  Southern  gentleman The  South  will  never  cease 

to  admire  the  man  of  iron  nerve,  of  dauntless  courage,  of 
ceaseless  loyalty,  of  unsullied  honor,  of  tireless  energy,  of 
peerless  chivalry,  who  suffered  and  dared  and  all  but  died 
for  the  cause  he  loved  and  lost.  Of  .that  host  of  true  men 
who  gave  their  best  and  their  all  for  the  Confederacy  be 
cause  in  their  deepest  hearts  they  believed  they  were  doing 
right,  none  was  more  sincere  than  he.  Of  that  multitude 
who  lined  up  for  the  struggle  against  their  brothers  of  the 
North,  none  was  braver,  none  was  nobler.  His  sacrifice 
was  as  extreme  as  it  was  sincere,  and  his  treatment  by  the 
victors  after  the  crash  came  was  sore  medicine  for  a  heart 
that  was  breaking 

"What  better  time  could  there  be  to  signify,  by  the 
placing  of  his  statue  in  the  nation's  capital,  that  the  wounds 
of  that  war  are  healed,  that  in  the  blood  of  brothers  shed 
the  Union  is  forever  cemented  on  a  foundation  that  stand- 


62  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

cth  sure?  Then  let  his  presentment  stand  erect,  noble,  com 
manding,  impressive  as  he  stood  in  the  days  when  he  \\as 

master  of  the  destinies  of  half  a  nation hot  it  picture 

a  martyr  to  a.  cause  that,  though  lost,  was  not  wholly  vain, 
since  it  taught  hrothers  to  appreciate  a  relationship  they 
were  in  danger  of  forgetting.  And  not  inappropriately 
might  there  bo  carved  on  it  the  inscription  which  an  un 
known  pool  of  the  South  once  suggested  for  his  statue: 

"  'Write  on  Us  bate,  *  UY  lored  him.'    Ml  tlnsc  >/«irs 
tfincc  tha-t  torn  flay  icax  folded  ?/v'r<   heen  trite, 
The  love  that  bound  ux  now  repealed  in  ttars 
Like  n'(l>s  unseen  till  It  turn  irilh  the  dew.'  ' 

The  writer  of  this  article  knew  Mr.  Davis  personally,  and  in 
his  home  at  Hoauvoir  was  his  guest.  In  addition,  he  hail  also 
been  one  of  his  escort  from  Charlotte,  N.  0.,  to  Washington, 
Ga.  In  the  home  of  Mr.  Davis  no  word  of  bitterness  toward 
even  those  who  had  despitofully  used  him  was  hoard.  Ho  de 
clined  to  discuss  the  politics  of  the  day,  evidently  fooling  the 
indignity  that  was  daily  heaped  upon  him  by  those  who,  forget 
ting  nothing,  also  learned  nothing.  OF  Mr.  hincoln  ho  spoke 
several  times  in  kindly  terms,  instancing  his  tine  capacity  for 
illustrating  his  moaning  with  apt  anecdotes,  an  accomplishment 
in  which  hi4  thought  Few  public  men  had  excelled  him.  Though 
in  Congress  at  the  same  time  as  Mr.  hincoln,  ho  stated  that  he 
had  no  recollection  of  his  personality.  In  an  article  which  was 
written  by  the  writer  oF  this  after  his  visit  to  Mr.  Davis  the 
following  is  found: 

"Not  by  word  or  tone  did  this  chief  of  the  greatest  of 
civil  wai^  express  other  than  respect  for  the  memory  of 
that  other  great  Kentuckian  who,  like  himself,  sat  in  a 
Presidential  chair  and  held  in  his  hands  the  destinies  of  n 
great  people  during  that  struggle  between  the  two  tines) 
armies  of  volunteers  the  world  has  ever  known. " 

POLK  JOHNSON,  " Confederate  Veteran,"  Louisville,  Tw.,  Jan 
uary,  1920: 

"The  most  remarkable  man  of  his  day  in  many  respects, 
the  chief  of  the  greatest  civil  war  the  world  has  known, 
the  head  of  a  government  and  army  which,  considering 
their  resources,  or  the  lack  of  them,  put  on  record  the  great 
est  military  achievements  of  the  age;  the  unfaltering  ad 
vocate  of  an  idea  which  ho  refuses  to  abandon  in  the  face 
of  defeat,  which  idea  represents  the  opinions  of  the  Found- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  63 

ers  of  the  government  and  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  he 
sits  by  the  side  of  the  sea,  a  citizen  of  no  land  under  the 
sun;  proscribed,  misrepresented,  and  derided,  yet  accept 
ing  it  all  without  a  murmur  and  calmly  resting  his  case 
for  those  who  will  corne  after  all  of  us  to  decide,  conscious 
of  the  uprightness  of  his  public  and  private  career,  his 
faithful  devotion  to  his  State  and  section,  and  the  honesty 
of  his  purposes.  Surrounded  by  his  family,  he  as  calmly 
and  bravely  awaits  the  end,  which  cannot  be  far  away  now, 
as  he  faced  the  storm  of  Santa  Anna's  bullets  in  Mexico 
and  bore  the  indignity  of  chains  and  the  horrors  of  a 
dungeon  in  later  years.  Kindly,  gentle  old  man!  When 
that  good  gray  head  is  pillowed  upon  the  bosom  of  your 
belowd  Mississippi,  may  then-,  come  one  who  will  writo 
upon  the  pages  of  history  the  fair  record  of  your  brave,  up 
right,  and  honored  life,  for  it  has  been  and  is  all  of  these,, 
deny  it  as  your  bitterest  adversary  may!" 

"Tn  vain  Mr.  Davis  requested  to  be  taken  into  open  court. 
They  would  riot  for  they  knew  they  had  no  particle  of  evi 
dence  on  which  to  convict  him.  Were  he  tried  for  Lincoln's, 
murder,  Judge  Shea  and  Horace  Greeley  would  testify  that 
they  would  be  proved  guilty  of  lying  not  Mr.  Davis  of 
murder.  If  tried  for  treason  not  Mr.  Davis  but  the  whole 
of  the  Republican  party  would  be  tried  for  treason,  and 
Chief  Justice  Chase  would  testify  to  this.  If  tried  for 
cruelty  at  Andersonville,  Chas.  Dana  would  testify  to  the 
falsity  of  this  charge — yet  the  Federal  government  kept 
Mr.  Davis  in  prison  two  years,  and  every  day  after  for  a 
dozen  or  more  years  the  Republican  party  continued  to  pour 
on  Mr.  Davis'  name  streams  of  sulphuric  hate." 
His  servants  were  greatly  attached  to  him.  He  was  always 
just  to  them.  When  he  died  they  wrote  to  Mrs.  Davis: 

"We,  the  old  servants  of  our  beloved  master,  have  cause 
to  mingle  our  tears  over  his  death.  He  was  always  so  kind 
and  thoughtful  of  our  peace  and  happiness.  We  extend 
our  humble  sympathy." 

JOHN  P.  SJOLANDEE: 

"And  whc,n  the  mints  are  blown  from  'round  the  height 

On  which  he  lived,  perchance  some  noble  mind, 
Born  in  that  newer  day  and  clearer  light, 

Up  to  its  peak  shall  point  out  to  mankind 
The  long  white  road  he  trod  alone  at  night." 


64  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

XIV. 

Abraham  Lincoln  Must  Have  His  Rightful  Place  in  History. 

AUTHORITY : 

, Summed  up,  the  services  of  Lincoln  to  the  United  States  gov 
ernment  were: 

Captain  in  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

One  term  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  1846. 

Elected  President  of  the  United  States  by  the  Republican 
party  on  a  minority  vote. 

Re-elected  President  in  1865,  over  McClellan,  by  using  his 
power  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army. 

He  involved  the  United  States  in  war  by  re-enforcing  Fort 
Sumter. 

In  the  "Trent"  affair  he  came  very  near  involving  the  United 
States  in  war  with  England. 

He  refused  to  aid  Mexico  against  Maxmilian  in  1863,  and 
thus  kept  the  United  States  out  of  war. 

He  freed  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States  by  a  proclamation 
that  was  unconstitutional. 

He  preserved  the  Union,  not  by  a  constitutional  right,  but 
by  armed  might.  (George  Lunt,  Herndon,  Lamon,  McClellan). 

"Lincoln  signed  the  liquor  revenue  bill  and  turned  the 
saloons  loose  on  the  country,  thus  undoing  the  previous 
temperance  work  of  the  churches." 

"He  studied  men  more  than  he  studied  books.  He  knew 
their  strong  points,  and  their  weak  points;  he  knew  their 
faults,  their  foibles,  their  whims  and  their  caprices. 

"He  had  few  friends  and  fewer  intimates.  He  unbo-om- 
ed  himself  to  none.  He  responded  quickly  to  distress.  He 
was  physically  and  morally  brave.  His  will  was  immov 
able  yet  he  was  the  child  of  policy  and  expediency.  He  was 
ambitious  and  aspiring.  He  was  self-confident  and  never 
hesitated  to  cross  mental  swords  with  the  most  brilliant. 

"His  real  strength  lay  in  knowing  plain  people  for  he 
was  one  of  them,  and  there  are  more  plain  people  in  the 
world  than  any  other  kind.  He  saw  their  struggle  and  toil, 
their  griefs  and  tears.  He  knew  how  they  thought  and  felt 
and  acted.  He  was  their  friend  and  they  knew  it.  He  knew 
how  to  communicate  with  them  in  their  speech  and  amuse 
them  by  his  jokes.  He  was  an  American,  but  an  Ameri 
can  of  a  new  national  type." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  65 

GEORGE  LUNT  says : 

"  Lincoln  was  incapable  of  wide  range  of  thought.  He 
was  infirm  of  purpose  led  by  sharper  minds.  He  frequently 
insisted  upon  minor  points  of  consideration  whether  right 
or  wrong.  A  large  majority  of  the  people  had  never  heard 
of  him  before  his  nomination." 

"He  has  been  compared  to  Washington,  but  his  loosely 
constituted  and  indecisive  character  cannot  be  compared 
to  the  high-toned  and  sagacious  Washington."  ("Origin 
of  Late  War,"  p.  435. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  by  the  States  not  the  people. 
He  received  the  majority  of  electoral  votes  but  was  nearly 
one  and  a  half  million  of  votes  in  minority  counting  the 
votes  of  the  people.  Although  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  by 
State  rights  yet  he  went  to  work  at  once  to  destroy  State 
rights. 

"He  had  a  way  of  illustrating  by  anecdote  what  his 
wishes  were  thus  not  openly  committing  himself  to  any 
thing  that  could  politically  be  brought  against  him. 

"By  an  anecdote  he  let  Grant  know  that  his  terms  of 
surrender  for  Lee  must  be  magnanimous.  By  an  anecdote 
he  showed  very  plainly  he  desired  President  Davis  to  es 
cape  and  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  North.  He  knew 
Davis  could  never  be  tried  for  treason,  therefore,  he  did 
not  wish  the  test  made.  Had  he  lived,  Sherman's  terms  of 
surrender  to  Johnston  would  not  have  been  so  severely 
%  dealt  with  by  the  Cabinet,  for  those  were  the  very  terms 
Lincoln  would  have  wished,  because  of  his  injustice  to  the 
South. 

.  "His  death  was  the  greatest  blowT  that  could  have  be 
fallen  the  South.  Jefferson  Davis  said  this,  Howell  Cobb 
and  other  Southern  statesmen  said  this.  No  statesmen, 
North  or  South,  rejoiced  over  the  news  of  his  death  ex 
cept  Thad  Stevens  who  desired  to  carry  out  his  own  Re 
construction  policy  instead  of  Lincoln's. 

"He  realized  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  free  all  slaves 
by  war,  so  he  planned  a  bill  to  introduce  into  Congress  to 
pay  $400,000,000  for  slaves  belonging  to  the  slaveholders 
of  the  North.  He  realized  how  this  act  of  coercion  which 
brought  on  the  war  and  his  freeing  of  the  slaves,  and  de 
struction  and  confiscation  of  the  life  and  property  of  the 
Southern  States  had  been  caused  by  the  acts  of  war,  so  his 
policy  for  Reconstruction  was  made  as  magnanimous  as 
he  dared  or  could  be  expected." 


66  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

GODWIN,  of  "The  Nation/'  says: 

"The  first  real  breach  in  the  Constitution  was  President 
Lincoln's  using  his  war  power  to  abolish  slavery." 

THAD  STEVENS: 

"I  will  not  stultify  myself  by  supposing  that  Mr.  Lin 
coln  has  any  warrant  in  the  Constitution  for  dismembering 
Virginia." 

McCLURE,  his  friend,  said: 

"Mr.  Lincoln  swore  to  obey  the  Constitution,  but  in 
eighteen  months  violated  it  by  his  Emancipation  Procla 
mation.  ' ' 

MR.  RHODES  (Vol.  IV.,  p.  213),  says: 

"There  was  no  authority  for  the  Proclamation  by  the 
Constitution  and  laws — nor  was  there  any  statute  that 
warranted  it." 

Mr.  Lincoln  in  all  fairness  must  be  judged  by  the  truth  of 
history  alone  as  recorded  by  the  men  of  the  North — those  who 
placed  him  in  power.  The  evidence  is  very  strong  against  him 
as  a  violator  of  the  Constitution. 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS,  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  1864,  said: 

"I  judge  Mr.  Lincoln  by  his  acts,  his  violations  of  the 
law,  his  overthrow  of  liberty  in  the  Northern  States. 

"I  judge  Mr.  Lincoln  by  his  words,  his  deeds,  and  so 
judging  him,  I  am  unwilling  to  trust  Abraham  Lincoln  with 
the  future  of  this  country. ' ' 

PERCY  GREGG  said : 

"Lincoln's  order  that  Confederate  commissions  or  let 
ters  of  marque  granted  to  private  or  public  ships  should 
be  disregarded  and  their  crews  treated  as  pirates,  and  all 
medicines  declared  contraband  of  war,  violated  every  rule 
of  civilized  war  and  outraged  the  conscience  of  Christen 
dom." 

"Lincoln  never  hesitated  to  violate  the  Constitution  when 
he  so  desired.  The  Chief  Justice  testified  to  this.  Lincoln 
suspended  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  in  1861 ;  he  allowed 
West  Virginia  to  be  formed  from  Virginia  contrary  to  the 
Constitution ;  he  issued  his  Emancipation  Proclamation 
without  consulting  his  Cabinet  and  in  violation  of  the  Con 
stitution." 

"He  consented  to  a  cartel  for  exchange  of  prisoners  Feb 
ruary,  14.  1862.  When  it  was  to  the  advantage  of  the 
North,  faith  was  kept ;  when  it  was  to  the  advantage  of  the 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  67 

South,  it  was  violated."     (See  Cor.  Lieut. Col.  Ludlow  and 
Col.  Quid,  July  26,  1863). 

"Had  he  been  humane,  he  would  not  have  allowed  38,000 
men  and  women — editors,  politicians,  clergymen  of  good 
character  and  honor — imprisoned  in  gloomy,  damp  case 
ments,  for  no  overt  act,  but  simply  because  they  were  *  Dem 
ocrat  suspects.'  :  ("Life  and  Times  of  Hannibal  Hamlin," 
p.  393).  (Bancroft's  "Life  of  Seward/'  Vol.  2,  p.  254). 

BOUTWELL,  Congressman  from  Massachusetts,  said : 

"With  varying  degrees  of  intensity  the  whole  Democratic 
party  sympathized  with  the  South  and  arraigned  Lincoln 
and  the  Repuliean  party  for  all  the  country  endured." 

"On  Circuit  With  Lincoln,"  p.  364: 

"Lincoln  was  not  in  any  sense  of  the  word  an  Abolition 
ist.  He  had  no  intention  to  make  voters  of  negroes — in  fact 
their  welfare  did  not  enter  into  his  policy  at  all." 

TARBELL : 

"Mr.  Chase  was  never  able  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln's  great 
ness." 

McCLURE  : 

"Chase  was  the  most  irritating  fly  in  the  Lincoln  oint 
ment," 

RHODES,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  320 : 

"Lincoln's  contemporaries  failed  to  perceive  his  great 
ness." 

"Ben  Wade  and  Henry  W.  Davis  issued  a  manifesto 
against  him.  Sumner,  Wade,  Davis,  and  Chase  were  his 
'malicious  foes.'  Lincoln  was  forced  to  appoint  Chase  to 
the  office  of  Chief  Justice  in  order  to  remove  him  from  the 
Cabinet,  for  he  was  said  to  be  'the  irritating  fly  in  the  Lin 
coln  ointment.'  Stanton  called  Lincoln  'a  coward  and  a 
fool.'  Seward  said  he  had  'a  cunning  that  amounted  to 
genius.'  Richard  Dana  said,  'The  lack  of  respect  for  the 
President  by  his  Cabinet  cannot  be  concealed/  He  was 
called  '  the  baboon  at  the  other  end  of  the  avenue, '  and  *  the 
idiot  of  the  White  House.'  Had  not  Grant  succeeded  in 
gaining  a  victory  at  Vicksburg,  a  movement  to  appoint  a 
Dictator  in  Lincoln's  place  would  have  gone  into  effect. | 
His  Cabinet  had  lost  confidence  in  his  policy." 

BENJAMIN  R.  CURTIS,  of  the  Supreme  Court  ("Executive  Pow 
er")  says: 

"The  President  has  made  himself  a  legislator.     He  has 


68  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

enacted  penal  laws  governing  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
He  has  super-added  to  his  rights  as  commander  the  power 
of  usurper.  He  has  established  a  military  despotism.  He 
can  now  use  the  authority  he  has  assumed  to  make  himself 
master  of  our  lives,  our  liberties,  our  properties,  with  power 
to  delegate  his  mastership  to  such  satraps  as  he  may  select. " 

IDA  TARBELL'S  "Life  of  Lincoln" : 

"In  the  winter  of  1862- '63  many  and  many  a  man  de 
serted  the  army.  They  refusel  to  fight.  Mr.  Lincoln  knew 
that  hundreds  of  soldiers  were  being  urged  by  parents  and 
friends  to  desert.  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana 
and  Illinois  reserved  their  vote.  The  people  were  weary  of 
war,  weary  of  so  much  waste  of  life  and  money.  Open  dis 
satisfaction  was  shown  in  Pennsylvania  and  Wisconsin 
which  broke  out  in  violence  over  the  draft  for  more  men." 

JOHN  A.  LOGAN,  "Great  Conspiracy,"  p.  551,  Springfield,  111., 
June,  1863 : 

"There  was  open  and  avowed  hosttility  to  Lincoln  in 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston  and  strong  opposition  in 
New  Jersey.  So  violent  was  the  hostility  to  war  in  Massa 
chusetts  and  New  York,  the  call  of  volunteers  was  unheed 
ed,  and  when  the  government  demanded  a  draft,  the  peo 
ple  gathered  in  crowds  and  fearful  riots  ensued.  In  New 
York  City  the  opposition  was  so  violent,  the  rioters  so 
numerous,  the  city  was  terrified  for.  days  and  nights.  The 
houses  in  which  the  draft  machines  were  at  work  were 
wrecked  and  then  burned  to  ashes.  The  order  for  draft 
was  rescinded  by  the  government  at  Washington  and  the 
people  urged  to  disperse  and  to  retire  to  their  homes  on 
the  promise  that  there  would  be  no  more  drafting." 

IDA  TARBLL,  p.  165,  McClure's  Magazine,  January,  1893 : 

"Many  and  many  a  man  deserted  in  the  winter  of  1862- 
'63,  because  of  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation.  The 
soldiers  did  not  believe  that  Lincoln  had  the  right  to  issue 
it,  and  they  refused  to  fight.  Lincoln  knew  that  hundreds 
were  deserting." 

B.  T.  BUTLER  says : 

"During  the  whole  war  the  Lincoln  government  was 
rarely  aided,  but  was  unanimously  impeded  by  the  de 
cisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  so  that  President  Lincoln 
was  obliged  to  suspend  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  in  order 
to  relieve  himself  from  the  rulings  of  the  Court." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  69 

TARBELI/S  "Life  of  Lincoln": 

"It  was  declared  that  Lincoln  had  violated  Constitu 
tional  rights,  declared  that  he  had  violated  personal  liberty, 
and  the  liberty  of  the  press.  It  was  said  that  Lincoln  had 
been  guilty  of  all  the  abuses  of  a  military  dictatorship. 
Much  bitter  criticism  was  made  of  his  treatment  of  the 
South 's  peace  commissioners.  The  despair,  the  indignation 
of  the  country  centered  on  Mr.  Lincoln." 

MORSE,  "American  Statesmen": 

"Many  distinguished  men  of  his  own  party  distrusted 
him." 

RICHARD  A.  DANA,  (Letters  to  Thomas  Lathrop),  February  23, 
1863: 

"I  see  no  hope  but  in  the  army;  the  lack  of  respect  for 
the  President  in  all  parties  is  unconcealed.  He  has  no  ad 
mirers.  If  a  convention  were  held  tomorrow  he  would  not 
get  the  vote  of  a  single  state." 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS: 

"As  long  as  you  keep  the  present  turtle  (Mr.  Lincoln) 
at  the  head  of  affairs  you  make  a  pit  with  one  hand,  and 
fill  it  with  the  other." 

WENDELL  PHILLINS  : 

"The  re-election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  will  be  National 
destruction. ' ' 

McCLURE : 

"It  is  an  open  secret  that  Stanton  advised  the  overthrow 
of  the  Lincoln  government  to  be  replaced  by  McClellan  as 
military  dictator. ' ' 

HAPGOOD'S  "Life  of  Lincoln": 

"Charles  A.  Dana  testifies  that  the  whole  power  of  the 
War  Department  was  used  to  secure  Lincoln's  re-election 
in  1864.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  true.  Purists  may 
turn  pale  at  such  things,  but  the  world  wants  no  prettified 
portrait  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Jesuitical  ability  to  use  the  fox's 
skin  \vhen  the  lion's  proves  too  short  and  that  was  one  part 
of  his  enormous  value." 

RICHARD  H.  DANA,  March,  1863,  in  a  letter  to  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  Sr.,  Minister  to  England,  said : 

"If  a  Republican  Convention  was  to  be  held  tomorrow  he 
would  not  get  the  vote  of  a  single  state.  He  is  an  unspeak 
able  calamity  to  us  where  he  is." 


70  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

LAMON'S  "Life  of  Lincoln": 

"No  phase  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  character  has  been  so  per 
sistently  misrepresented  as  this  of  his  religious  belief." 

HERNDON'S  "Life  of  Lincoln": 

"Abraham  Lincoln  became  more  discreet  in  later  life 
and  used  words  and  phrases  to  make  it  appear  that  he  was 
a  Christian.  He  never  changed  on  this  subject.  He  lived 
and  died  a  deep-grounded  infidel." 

LAMON'S  "Life  of  Lincoln": 

"Mr.  Lincoln  went  to  church,  but  he  went  to  mock  and 
came  away  to  mimic." 

HAPGOOD'S  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  p.  183: 

"All  the  clergy  in  Springfield  voted  against  Lincoln." 
LAMON : 

"The  people  all  drank,  and  Abe  was  for  doing  what  the 
people  did,  right  or  wrong." 

E.  C.  INGERSOLL: 

"President  Lincoln  is  now  clothed  with  power  as  full  as 
that  of  the  Czar  of  Russia." 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER: 

"I  know  it  is  said  that  President  Lincoln  is  not  the  gov 
ernment  ;  that  the  Constitution  is  the  government.  What ! 
A  sheep-skin  parchment  a  government.  President  Lincoln 
and  his  Cabinet  is  now  the  government." 

VIEWS  ON  SLAVERY. 

LINCOLN  said,  (Hapgood's  "Abraham  Lincoln,  The  Man  of  The 
People,"  p.  273)  : 

"If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slaves  I 
would  do  it." 

ALLEN    THORNDIKE  RICE  says,    ("Reminiscences   of   Lincoln," 
p.  14)  : 

"Lincoln  did  not  free  the  negro  for  the  sake  of  the  slave, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  Union.  It  is  an  error  to  class  him 
with  the  noble  band  of  Abolitionists  to  whom  neither  church 
nor  state  were  sacred  when  it  sheltered  slavery." 

HERNDON,  Lincoln's  law  partner: 

"When  Lovejoy  the  zealous  Abolitionist  came  to  Spring- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  71 

field  to  speak  against  slavery,  Lincoln  left  town  to  avoid 
taking  sides  either  for  or  against  Abolition." 

LINCOLN  said: 

"Slaves  are  property,  and  if  freed  should  be  paid  for." 

We  cannot  hold  him  up  as  a  hater  of  slavery.  Abraham 
Lincoln  did  not  free  the  slaves  because  he  hated  slavery,  nor  for 
any  love  for  the  African  race,  nor  for  any  desire  to  give  them 
suffrage  or  social  equality.  In  his  campaign  speeches,  he  said 
he  had  no  thought  of  freeing  the  slaves.  In  his  Inaugural  Ad 
dress  he  said  the  same.  He  made  Hunter  and  Fremont  in  Mis 
souri  countermand  their  acts  freeing  the  slaves  in  conquered 
territory  in  the  early  years  of  the  war,  saying,  "they  could  not 
by  the  Constitution  do  it,"  and  "the  war  was  not  being  fought 
with  any  view  of  freeing  the  slaves." 

Congress  had  declared  to  Benjamin  Franklin  and  to  the 
Quakers  that,  it  had  no  right  to  free  the  slaves.  The  Constitu 
tion  had  not  been  amended,  but  Lincoln  approved  an  act  in 
1861  which  said  "Congress  had  the  right  to  abolish  slavery  in 
the  States"  and  this  allowed  the  Constitution  to  be  violated 
again. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  adroit  politician.  When  dealing  with  the 
South,  he  said: 

"I  have  no  Constitutional  right  to  free  your  slaves,  and 
no  desire  to  do  so." 

When  dealing  with  the  Border  States,  he  said: 
"Slavery  is  not  to  be  interfered  with." 

When  dealing  with  the  Republican  party,  he  said: 

' '  This  country  cannot  remain  half  slave  and  half  free. ' ' 

When  dealing  with  the  Abolitionists,  he  said : 
"This  war  is  against  slavery." 

When  dealing  with  Foreign  Nations,  he  said: 
"The  slaves  must  be  emancipated." — Lunt. 

He  said  he  had  no  desire  to  free  the  slaves. —  (Inaugural  Ad 
dress). 

He  said  he  had  no  Constitutional  right  to  free  them. —  (In 
augural  Address). 

He  said  if  freed  they  should  be  segregated. — (Butler's 
Works) . 

He  said  he  never  desired  nor  intended  to  give  them  political 
nor  social  equality. —  (Butler's  Works). 


72  THE    TRUTHS    OP    HISTORY 

LINCOLN'S  PROMISES. 
INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  : 

"Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of  the 
Soiithern  States  that  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican  ad 
ministration  their  property  and  their  peace  and  personal 
security  are  to  be  endangered.  There  has  never  been  any 
reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehension. 

"I  have  no  purpose  directly  or  indirectly  to  interfere 
with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  ex 
ists.  I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have 
no  inclination  to  do  so." 

In  his  letter  to  Alexander  Stephens,  who  wrote  expressing 
his  sympathy  for  him  in  the  great  responsibility  resting  upon 
him  as  President  in  those  perilous  days,  he  said : 

("For  your  eye  only.") 

"Do  the  people  of  the  South  really  entertain  fear  that  a 
/  Republican  administration  would  directly  or  indirectly 
interfere  with  their  slaves,  or  with  them  about  their  slaves? 
If  they  do,  I  wish  to  assure  you  as  once  a  friend,  and  still, 
I  hope,  not  an  enemy,  that  there  is  no  cause  for  such  fears. 
The  South  would  be  in  no  more  danger  in  this  respect  than 
it  was  in  the  days  of  Washington."  ("Public  and  Private 
Letters  of  Alexander  Stephens/'  p.  150). 

VIEWS  ON  COLONIZATION  OF  THE  NEGRO. 

President  Lincoln  in  his  Emancipation  Proclamation  evidently 
had  in  mind  to  colonize  or  segregate  the  slaves  if  freed. 

"It  is  my  purpose  to  colonize  persons  of  African  descent, 
with  their  consent,  upon  this  continent  or  elsewhere,  with 
the  previously  obtained  consent  of  the  government  existing 
there." 

"From  the  time  of  his  election  as  President  he  was  striv 
ing  to  find  some  means  of  colonizing  the  negroes.  An  ex 
periment  had  been  made  of  sending  them  to  Liberia,  but  it 
was  a  failure,  and  he  wished  to  try  another  colony,  hoping 
that  would  be  successful.  He  sent  one  colony  to  Cow 
Island  under  Koch  as  overseer,  but  he  proved  very  cruel 
to  the  negroes  and  they  begged  to  return.  He  then  asked 
for  an  appropriation  of  money  from  Congress  to  purchase 
land  in  Central  America,  but  Central  America  refused  to 
sell  and  said,  'Do  not  send  the  negroes  here.'  Th;>  North 
said,  'Do  not  send  the  negroes  here.' 

"It  was  agreed  then  that  a  Black  Territory  should  be 
set  apart  for  the  segregation  of  the  negroes  in  Texas,  Mis- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  73 

sissippi  and  South  Carolina — but  Lincoln  was  unhappy,  and 
in  despair — he  asked  Ben  Butler's  advice,  saying: 

"  'If  we  turn  200,000  armed  negroes  in  the  South,  among 
their  former  owners,  from  whom  we  have  taken  their  arms, 
it  will  inevitably  lead  to  a  race  war.  It  cannot  be  done. 
The  negroes  must  be  gotten  rid  of.  Ben  Butler  said: 
'Why  not  send  them  to  Panama  to  dig  the  canal?'  (See 
Butler's  Book). 

Lincoln  was  delighted  at  the  suggestion,  and  asked  Butler 
to  consult  Seward  at  once.  Only  a  few  days  later  John  Wilkes 
Booth  assassinated  Lincoln  and  one  of  his  conspirators  wounded 
Seward.  What  would  have  been  the  result  had  Lincoln  lived 
cannot  be  estimated.  The  poor  negroes  would  possibly  have 
been  sent  to  that  place  of  yellow  fever  and  malarial  dangers  to 
perish  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  for  we  had  no  Gorgas  of  Ala 
bama  to  study  our  sanitary  laws  for  them  at  that  time. 

VIEWS  ON  SOCIAL  EQUALITY  OF  THE  NEGRO. 

In  his  speech  at  Charleston,  111.,  1858,  Lincoln  said : 

"I  am  not  now,  nor  ever  have  been  in  favor  of  bringing 
about  in  any  way  the  social  or  political  equality  of  the 
white  and  black  races.  I  am  not  now  nor  ever  have  been 
in  favor  of  making  voters  or  jurors  of  negroes,  nor  of  qual 
ifying  them  to  hold  office,  nor  of  intermarriages  with  white 
people.  There  is  a  physical  difference  between  the  white 
and  the  black  races  which  will  forever  forbid  the  two  races 
living  together  on  social  or  political  equality.  There  must 
be  a  position  of  superior  and  inferior,  and  I  am  in  favor  of 
assigning  the  superior  position  to  the  white  man." 

MUZZEY'S  "American  History/'  p.  486.      (Dr.  Muzzey  is  the 
teacher  of  history  at  Columbia  College,  New  York)  : 

"Lincoln  had  no  idea  of  forcing  the  South  to  give  a  single 
slave  political  rights." 

In  his  speech  at  Peoria,  111.,  he  said : 

"We  know  that  some  Southern  men  do  free  their  slaves, 
go  North  and  become  tip-top  abolitionists,  while  some 
Northern  men  go  South  and  become  most  cruel  masters. 

"When  Southern  people  tell  us  that  they  are  no  more 
responsible  for  the  origin  of  slavery  than  we  are,  I  acknowl 
edge  the  fact.  When  it  is  said  the  institution  exists,  and  it 
is  very  difficult  to  get  rid  of  in  any  satisfactory  way,  I  can 
understand  and  appreciate  the  saying.  I  surely  will  not 


74  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

blame  them  for  not  doing  what  I  should  not  know  how  to 
do  myself.  If  all  earthly  power  were  given  me,  I  should 
not  know  what  to  do  as  to  the  existing  institution  My 
first  impulse  would  possibly  be  to  free  all  the  slaves  and 
send  them  to  Liberia  to  their  own  native  land.  But  a  mo 
ment's  reflection  would  convince  me  that  this  would  not 
be  best  for  them.  If  they  were  all  landed  there  in  a  day 
they  would  all  perish  in  the  next  ten  days,  and  there  is  not 
surplus  money  enough  to  carry  them  there  in  many  times 
ten  days.  What  then  ?  Free  them  all  and  keep  them  among 
us  as  underlings.  Is  it  quite  certain  that  this  would  alter 
their  condition?  Free  them  and  make  them  politically 
and  socially  our  equals?  My  own  feelings  will  not  admit 
of  this,  and  if  mine  would,  we  well  know  tha-t  those  of  the 
great  mass  of  whites  will  not.  We  cannot  make  them  our 
equals.  A  system  of  gradual  emancipation  might  be  adopt 
ed,  and  I  will  not  undertake  to  judge  our  Southern  friends 
for  tardiness  in  this  matter." 

"At  Peoria  ,111.,  in  1854,  he  said:  'I  acknowledge  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  States — not  grudgingly,  but 
fairly  and  fully,  and  I  will  give  them  any  legislation  for 
reclaiming  their  fugitive  slaves.' 

"The  point  the  Republican  party  wanted  to  stress  was 
to  oppose  making  slave  States  out  of  the  newly  acquired 
territory,  not  abolishing  slavery  as  it  then  existed.  Lincoln 
spoke  of  anti-slavery  men  in  1862  as  'Radicals  and  Abo 
litionists. '  Rhodes  said  that  the  abolitionists  said,  'The 
President  is  not  with  us;  he  has  no  anti-slavery  instincts/  " 
(Rhodes'  "History  of  United  States,"  Vol.  IV.,  p.  64). 

EMANCIPATION. 
GEORGE  LUNT  says: 

"Emancipation  is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  Constitu- 
tution,  or  in  any  degree  at  the  disposition  of  the  United 
States  government,  and  can  mean  nothing  else  than  revolu 
tion  for  which  the  abolitionists  are  striving.  Revolution 
can  only  be  justified  by  oppression  and  the  power  of  op 
pression  is  not  with  the  South." 

MORSE'S  "Abraham  Lincoln/'  Vol.  II.,  p.  102: 

"I  felt  that  measures  otherwise  unconstitutional  might 
become  lawful  by  becoming  indispensable.     Right  or  wrong, 
I  assume  this  ground  and  now  avow  it." 
CARPENTER  repeats  the  President's  words: 

"I  put  the  draft  of  the  Proclamation  aside,  waiting  for 
a  victory.  Finally  came  the  week  of  Antietam.  I  deter 
mined  to  wait  no  longer.  I  was  then  staying  at  the  Sol- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  75 

diers'  Home.  Here  I  finished  writing  the  second  draft  of 
the  proclamation.;  called  the  Cabinet  together  to  hear  it, 
and  it  was  published  the  following  Monday.  I  made  a  sol 
emn  vow  before  God  that  if  General  Lee  was  driven  back 
from  Maryland  I  would  crown  the  result  by  the  declaration 
of  freedom  to  the  slaves."  (Barnes'  "Popular  History," 
Chap.  XV.) 

RHODES'  "History  of  the  United  States/'  Vol.  IV.,  p.  344: 

"His  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  not  issued  from  a 
humane  standpoint.  He  hoped  it  would  incite  the  negroes 
to  rise  against  the  women  and  children." 

"His  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  intended  only  as 
a  punishment   for  the   seceding   States.     It   was   with  no 
*  thought  of  freeing  the  slaves  of  more  than  300,000  slave 
holders  then  in  the  Northern  army. 

"His  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  issued  for  a  four 
fold  purpose  and  it  was  issued  with  fear  and  trepidation 
lest  he  should  offend  his  Northern  constituents.    He  did  it : 
FIRST : 

"Because  of  an  oath — that  if  Lee  should  be  driven  from 
Maryland  he  would  free  the  slaves.     (Barnes  and  Guerber). 
SECOND  : 

"The  time  of  enlistment  had  expired  for  many  men  in 
the  army  and  he  hoped  this  would  encourage  re-enlistment. 
THIRD: 

"Trusting  that  Southern  men  would  be  forced  to  return 
home  to  protect  their  wives  and  children  from  negro  in 
surrection. 
FOURTH  : 

"Above  all  he  issued  it  to  prevent  foreign  nations  from 
recognizing  the  Confederacy." 

RHODES,  Vol.  IV. : 

"The  House  of  Lords  was  almost  unanimously  for  the 
South,  as  was  the  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
elected  in  that  day  by  about  a  million  voters." 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS  : 

"Lincoln  was  badgered  into  emancipation.     After  he  is 
sued  it,  he  said  it  was  the  greatest  folly  of  his  life.     It  was 
like  the  Pope's  bull  against  the  comet. " 
Was  he  satisfied  with  its  effect?     Let  us  see  what  happened. 

"McClure's  Magazine/'  January,  1893,  p.  165;  also  Tarbell: 

"Many  and  many  a  man  deserted  in  the  winter  of  1862- 
'63  because  of  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation  The 


76  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

soldiers  did  not  believe  that  Lincoln  had  the  right  to  issue 
it.     They  refused  to  fight." 
WENDELL  PHILLIPS  said: 

"Lincoln  acknowledged  that  the  Emancipation  Procla 
mation  was  the  greatest  folly  of  his  life." 
NICOLAY  &  HAY,  Vol.  II,  p.  261 : 

"There  were  great  losses  in  the  elections  in  consequence 
of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation." 

EXTRACT   FROM  LETTER,   September   28,    1863,   from  Abraham 
Lincoln  to  Hannibal  Hamlin: 

"While  I  hope  something  from  this  proclamation,  my 
expectations  are  not  so  sanguine  as  are  those  of  some 
friends.  The  time  for  its  effect  southward  has  not  come; 
but  northward  the  effect  should  be  instantneous.  It  is  six 
days  old  and  while  commendation  in  newspapers  and  by 
distinguished  individuals  is  all  that  a  vain  man  could  wish, 
the  stocks  have  declined  and  troops  come  forward  more 
slowly  than  ever.  This  looked  squarely  in  the  face  is  not 
very  satisfactory.  We  have  fewer  troops  in  the  field  at  the 
end  of  six  days  than  we  had  at  the  beginning — the  attrition 
among  the  old,  outnumbering  the  addition  by  the  new.  The 
North  responds  to  the  proclamation  sufficiently  in  breath; 
but  breath  alone  kills  no  rebels.  I  wish  I  could  write  more 
cheerfully." 

Not  a  negro  in  the  States  that  did  not  secede  was  freed  by 
Lincoln's  Proclamation  and  it  had  no  effect  even  in  the  South 
as  it  was  unconstitutional  and  Lincoln  knew  it.  Many  in  the 
North  resented  it,  and  Lincoln  was  unhappy  over  the  situation 
as  Lamon  testified.  The  negroes  were  freed  by  an  amendment 
offered  by  a  Southern  man,  John  Brooks  Henderson  of  Missouri. 
Emancipation  did  not  become  a  law  until  after  Lincoln's  death. 
It  is  really  a  farce  for  negroes  to  celebrate  Emancipation  Day, 
and  give  Lincoln  the  credit. 

Did  Abraham  Lincoln  keep  his  pledge? 

"On  January  1,  1863,  the  second  writing  of  the  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation  was  read.  The  members  of  the  Cabinet 
noticed  that  the  name  of  God  was  not  mentioned  in  it,  and 
reminded  the  President  that  such  an  important  document 
should  recognize  the  name  of  the  Deity.  Lincoln  said  he 
had  overlooked  that  fact  and  asked  the  Cabinet  to  assist 
him  in  preparing  a  paragraph  recognizing  G-od.  Chief  Jus 
tice  Chase  prepared  it: 

'I    invoke   the    considerate    judgment    of    mankind    and 
the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God.' 
It  was  accepted  without  a  change." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  77 

SCHOULER'S  "History  of  the  United  States/'  Vol.  VI.,  p.  21: 

"People  found  in  Lincoln  before  his  death  nothing  re 
markably  good  or  great,  but  on  the  contrary  found  in  him 
the  reverse  of  goodness  or  greatness. 

"Lincoln  as  one  of  Fame's  immortals  does  not  appear  in 
the  Lincoln  of  1861." 

HORACE  GREELEY  said  (p.  274)  : 

"I  cannot  trust  'honest  old  Abe' — he  is  too  smart  for 
me." 

JUDGE  JEREMIAH  S.  BLACK  of  Pennsylvania  said  (Black's  "Es 
says/'  p.  153)  : 

"Of  the  wanton  cruelties  that  Lincoln's  administration 
has  inflicted  upon  unoffending  citizens,  I  have  neither  space 
nor  skill,  nor  time,  to  paint  them — since  the  fall  of  Robes 
pierre,  nothing  has  occurred  to  cast  such  disrepute  on  Re 
publican  institutions. ' ' 

DON  PIATT'S  "Reminiscences  of  Lincoln,"  p.  21: 

"Had  Lincoln  lived  could  he  have  justified  the  loss  of 
more  than  a  million  lives  and  the  destruction  of  more  than 
eight  billions  of  dollars  of  property  on  a  Constitutional 
basis?  Of  course  he  could  not,  and  would  not  have  been 
considered  worthy  of  the  honors  heaped  on  him  because  of 
his  martyrdom." 

"I  hear  of  Lincoln  and  read  of  him  in  eulogies  and  biog 
raphies  and  fail  to  recognize  the  man  I  knew  in  private  life 
before  he  became  President  of  the  United  States." 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS,  the  Massachusetts  historian,  says: 

"When  the  Federal  Constitution  was  adopted,  in  the 
case  of  final  issue  to  whom  did  the  average  citizen  owe  al 
legiance?  Was  it  to  the  Union  or  to  his  State? 

"Sweeping  aside  all  legal  arguments  and  metaphysical 
disquisitions — I  do  not  think  the  answer  admits  of  doubt. 
Nine  men  out  of  ten  in  the  North  and  ninety-nine  out  of  a 
hundred  in  the  South  would  have  said  ultimate  allegiance 
was  due  the  State. 

"How  then  can  \^e  justify  the  acts  of  Lincoln's  adminis 
tration  ? 

"An  unconstitutional  platform  called  for  an  unconstitu 
tional  policy. 

"An  unconstitutional  policy  called  for  an  unconstitu 
tional  coercion. 

"An  unconstitutional  coercion  called  for  an  unconstitu 
tional  war. 


78  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

"An  unconstitutional  war  called  for  an  unconstitutional 
despotism. 

"Authority  uncontrolled  and  unlimited  by  men,  by  Con 
stitution,  by  Supreme  Court,  or  by  law  was  Lincoln's  war 
policy. ' ' 
The  St.  Louis  "Globe-Democrat,"  March  6,  1898: 

"Where  now  is  the  man  so  rash  as  to  even  warmly  crit 
icize  Abraham  Lincoln?" 

One  adverse  comment  subjects  one  to  the  accusation  either  of 
prejudice  or  injustice. 

"In  seeking  the  truth  about  him,  it  would  be  most  un 
just  to  take  only  the  testimony  of  his  enemies,  and  it  would 
be  equally  as  unjust  to  take  only  the  testimony  of  his 
glorifiers.  Lincoln  was  a  man  as  other  men  with  weak 
points  and  strong  points  of  character,  and  the  fairest  tes 
timony  ought  to  come  from  those  who  knew  him  best,  loved 
.him  well,  honored  him  and  yet  were  friendly  enough,  truth 
ful  enough  and  just  enough  to  see  and  acknowledge  his 
faults.'1 

In  the  Preface  to  "The  True  Story  of  a  Great  Life,"  written 
by  Herndon  and  Weik  after  the  first  "Life  of  Lincoln,"  by 
Herndon  had  been  destroyed  is  found  this : 

"With  a  view  of  throwing  light  on  some  attributes  of  Mr. 
Lincoln 's  character  hitherto  obscure  these  volumes  are  given 
to  the  world.  The  whole  truth  concerning  Mr.  Lincoln 
should  be  known.  The  truth  will  at  last  come  out,  and  no 
man  need  hope  to  evade  it.  Some  persons  will  doubtless 
object  to  the  narrative  of  certain  facts,  but  these  facts  are 
indispensable  to  a  full  knowledge  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  We 
must  have  all  the  facts  about  him.  We  must  be  prepared 
to  take  Mr.  Lincoln  as  he  was.  Mr.'  Lincoln  was  my  warm 
and  personal  friend.  My  purpose  to  tell  the  truth  about 
him  need  occasion  no  apprehension.  God's  naked  truth 
cannot  injure  his  fame." 

LAMON'S  "Life  of  Lincoln" : 

"The  ceremony  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  apotheosis  was  planned 
and  executed  after  his  death  by  men  who  were  unfriendly 
to  him  while  he  lived.  Men  who  had  exhausted  the  re 
sources  of  their  skill  and  ingenuity  in  venomous  detrac 
tions  of  the  living  Lincoln  were  the  first  after  his  death, 
to  undertake  the  task  of  guarding  his  memory  not  as  a 
human  being,  but  as  a  god." 

LAMON  again  says : 

"There  was  fierce  rivalry  who  should  canonize  Mr.  Lin 
coln  in  the  most  solemn  ^words ;  who  should  compare  him 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  79 

to  the  most  sacred  character  in  all  history.  He  was  proph 
et,  priest,  and  king,  he  was  Washington,  he  was  Moses,  he 
was  likened  to  Christ  the  Redeemer,  he  was  likened  unto 
God.  After  that  came  the  ceremony  of  apotheosis.  And 
this  was  the  work  of  men  who  never  spoke  of  the  living 
Lincoln  except  with  jeers  and  contempt.  After  his  death 
it  became  a  political  necessity  to  pose  him  as  'the  greatest, 
wisest,  Godliest  man  that  ever  lived.'  J 
LAMON : 

"  Those  ^who  scorned  and  reviled  him  while  living  were 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Salmon  P.  Chase;  Secretary  of 
War,  Edwin  Stanton;  Vice-President,  Hannibal  Hamlin; 
Secretary  of  State,  Wm.  Seward,  Fremont;  Senators  Sum- 
ner,  Trumbull,  Ben  Wade,  Henry  Wilson,  Thaddeus  Ste 
vens,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Wendell  Phillips,  Winter 
Davis,  Horace  Greeley,  Zack  Chandler  of  Michigan,  and  a 
host  of  others. " 

General  Don  Piatt  travelled  with  Lincoln  when  he  was  making 
his  campaign  speeches,  hence  knew  him  intimately. 
GENERAL  DON  PIATT  says: 

"When  a  leader  dies  all  good  men  go  to  lying  about 
him.  From  the  moment  that  covers  his  remains  to  the 
last  echo  of  the  rural  press,  in  speeches,  in  sermonts,  eulo 
gies,  reminiscences,  we  hear  nothing  but  pious  lies." 

GENERAL  PIATT  continues: 

"Abraham  Lincoln  has  almost  disappeared  from  human 
knowledge.  I  hear  of  him,  I  read  of  him  in  eulogies  and 
biographies  but  I  fail  to  recognize  the  man  I  knew  in  life." 

GENERAL  PIATT  says : 

"Lincoln  faced  and  lived  through  the  awful  responsi 
bility  of  the  war  with  a  courage  that  came  from  indiffer 
ence." 

One  may  say  the  spirit  of  that  Gettysburg  address  should 
be  emulated. 

Lamon  says  that  "is  not  the  speech  Mr.  Lincoln  made  at 
Gettysburg." 

Nicolay  says  "it  was  revised." 

Lamon  says  all  that  the  biographers  say  of  "Mr.  Everett's 
commendatory  words  is  bosh." 

Mr.  Everett  was  disappointed  in  the  speech  and  so  was  Mr. 
Seward. 


80  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

LAMON,  in  his  "Recollections  of  Lincoln/'  said  after  the  speech 
was  over  Lincoln  said: 

"Lamon,  that  speech  was  like  a  wet  blanket  on  the  au 
dience.  I  am  distressed  about  it," 

On  the  platform,  Mr.  Seward  asked  Everett,  the  orator  of  the 
day,  what  he  thought  of  the  President's  speech. 
MR.  EVERETT  replied: 

"It  is  not  what  I  expected.  I  am  disappointed.  What 
do  you  think  of  it,  Mr.  Seward?" 

MR.  SEWAKD  replied: 

"He  has  made  a  failure." 
See  (on  p.  173)  what  Lamon  says  occurred  after  his  death: 

"  'Amid  the  tears,  sobs  and  cheers  it  produced  in  the 
excited  throng,  the  orator  of  the  day  (Mr.  Everett)  turned 
to  Mr.  Lincoln,  grasped  his  hand  and  exclaimed:  'I  con 
gratulate  you  on  your  success,'  adding  in  a  transport  of 
heated  enthusiasm,  'Mr.  President,  how  gladly  would  I  give 
my  hundred  pages  to  be  the  author  of  your  twenty  lines.' 

"Nothing  of  the  kind  ever  occurred.  I  state  it  as  a  fact 
and  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  this  Gettysburg 
speech  was  not  regarded  as  a  production  of  extraordinary 
merit,  nor  was  it  commented  on  as  such  until  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

"The  fame  of  Lincoln  concentrates  its  vital  power  upon 
his  achievements  in  the  sphere  of  oratory.  Above  all>  does 
this  criterion,  or  test,  hold  good  of  his  much-vaunted  Get 
tysburg  address,  delivered  November  19,  1863.  By  one  of 
those  revealing  ironies  to  which  both  literary  and  oratorical 
renown  are  ever  subject  the  special  phrase  that  has  been 
most  thoroughly  ingrained  and  assimilated  into  the  heart 
and  speech  of  the  world  traces  its  suggestion,  if  not  its 
specific  origin,  to  Webster's  memorable  reply  to  Hayne 
during  the  historic  debate  of  January,  1830.  By  ref 
erence  to  Webster's  argument  as  edited  by  Bradley 's  "Ora 
tions  and  Arguments  (p.  227,  par.  5),  the  reader  will  dis 
cover  at  a  glance  the  very  essence  of  the  language,  'govern 
ment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,'  so 
intensely  associated  with  the  memory  of  Lincoln.  Note  the 
harmony  existing  between  the  words  of  Webster  uttered  in 
1830  and  those  which  fell  from  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg  in 
November,  1863: 

"  'It  is  the  people's  government,  made  for  the  people, 
made  by  the  people,  and  answerable  to  the  people/  (Brad 
ley,  p.  227,  par.  5). 

"The  resemblance  existing  between  the  passages  cited  is 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  81 

too  minute  and  definite  to  admit  of  explanation  as  a  mere 
coincidence  of  form  or  a  simple  analogy  in  the  mode  of  ex 
position.  Even  if  we  waive  the  charge  of  willful  plagiar 
ism,  the  most  exuberant  charity  cannot  ignore  or  condone 
the  palpable  and  wanton  imitation  of  the  thought  and  dic 
tion  of  Daniel  Webster." 

HENRY  E.  SHEPHERD,  Baltimore,  Md. : 

"It  is  now  quite  well  known  that  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not 
write  the  Gettysburg  speech  as  it  appears  in  all  text  books 
on  American  Literature  which  have  been  wrritten  by  North 
ern  men,  and  in  nearly  all  Readers  used  in  Southern  schools. 
His  intimate  friend,  Lamon's  testimony  is  corroborated  by 
William  Seward,  Edward  Everett,  who  sat  on  the  stage 
with  him,  and  others  who  were  present  when  the  speech 
was  made.  And  yet  Jefferson  Davis  the  author  of  several 
published  books  is  omitted  from  the  text  books  of  Ameri 
can  Literature  written  by  Northern  men,  and  Abraham 
Lincoln  put  in  because  of  a  speech  he  never  wrote. ' ' 

Did  Lincoln  \yrite  that  speech  accredited  to  him,  or  was  it 
doctored  by  one  of  his  ardent  admirers  ? 
Montgomery  City,  Mo.,  The  Star: 

"It  was"  my  privilege  to  be  present  at  the  dedication  of 
the  Soldiers'  National  Cemetery  at  Gettysburg  the  after 
noon  of  November  19,  1863,  and  to  hear  the  now  famous 
address  of  Abraham  Lincoln  on  that  occasion.  I  can  bear 
witness  to  the  fact  that  this  address,  pronounced  by  Edward 
Everett  to  be  unequalled  in  the  annals  of  oratory,  fell  upon 
unappreciative  ears,  wa-s  entirely  unnoticed  and  wholly 
disappointing  to  a  majority  of  the  hearers.  This  may  have 
been  owing  in  part  to  the  careless  and  undemonstrative 
delivery  of  the  orator,  but  the  fact  is  that  he  had  concluded 
his  address  and  resumed  his  seat  before  most  of  the  audi 
ence  realized  that  he  had  begun  to  speak.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  as  a  newspaper  correspondent  to  occupy  a  place 
directly  beside  Mr.  Lincoln  when  he  delivered  this  brief 
oration  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  speaker  was  W,  H. 
Seward.  Other  members  of  the  Cabinet  had  seats  on  the 
stand  and  I  also  noticed  Governor  Curtin,  Seymour,  Tod, 
Morton  and  Bradford;  Edward  Everett  and  Col.  John 
W.  Forney. 

"At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Everett's  scholarly  oration, 
Mr.  Lincoln  faced  the  vast  audience.  He  looked  haggard 
and  pale  and  wore  a  shabby  overcoat,  from  an  inside  pock 
et  of  which  he  drew  a  small  roll  of  manuscript.  He  read 
his  address  in  a  sort  of  drawling  monotone,  the  audience  re 
maining  perfectly  silent.  The  few  pages  were  soon  fin- 


82  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY       , 

ished.  Mr.  Lincoln  doubled  up  his  manuscript,  thrust  it 
back  into  his  overcoat  pocket  and  sat  down — not  a  word, 
not  a  cheer,  not  a  shout.  The  people  looked  at  one  another, 
seeming  to  say,  'Is  that  all?' 

"I  am  well  aware  that  accounts  have  differed  as  to  the 
manner  of  this  address  and  its  reception  by  the  audience. 
I  was  an  eye  witness  and  hearer  and  my  position  was  imme 
diately  beside  the  speaker,  therefore  the  foregoing  account 
may  be  relied  upon."  (W.  H.  Cunningham,  Reporter  for 
The  Star,  Montgomery  City,  Mo.) 

HISTORY  before  his  martyrdom  said: 

"Lincoln  detested  science  and  literature.  No  man  can 
put  his  finger  on  any  book  written  in  the  last  or  present 
century  that  Lincoln  read  through.  He  read  little."  (Hern- 
don). 

HERNDON,  in  his  "Story  of  a  Great  Life/'  says  on  page  47: 

"When  Abe  saw  that  Grisby  was  getting  the  best  of  the 
fight,  he  burst  through  the  ring,  caught  Grisby,  threw  him 
some  feet  distant ;  then  stood  up,  proud  as  Lucifer,  swing 
ing  a  bottle  of  liquor  over  his  head  and  swearing  aloud,  'I 
am  the  big  buck  of  the  lick !  If  anybody  doubts  it  let  him 
come  and  whet  his  horns/  3 

Lamon  in  his  "Life  of  Lincoln/'  tells  the  same  story  only 
adds  that  Grisby  challenged  him  to  shoot  with  pistols,  but  Lin 
coln  replied :  "  I  am  not  going  to  fool  away  my  life  on  a  single 
shot." 

Lincoln  should  not  be  held  up  as  an  example  for  Christian 
children. 
HERNDON'S  letter  to  Lamon: 

"In  New  Salem  Mr.  Lincoln  lived  with  a  class  of  men, 
moved  with  them,  had  his  being  with  them.  They  were 
scoffers  of  religion,  made  loud  protests  against  the  follow 
ers  of  Christianity.  They  denied  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the 
Son  of  God.  They  ridiculed  old  divines,  and  made  them 
skeptics  by  their  logic.  In  1835  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  a  book 
on  infidelity  and  intended  to  have  it  published  but  Hill, 
believing  that  if  the  book  should  be  published  it  would  kill 
Lincoln  as  a  politician,  threw  it  into  a  stove  and  it  went  up 
in  smoke  and  ashes  before  Lincoln  could  seize  it. 

"When  Mr.  Lincoln  became  a  candidate  for  the  Legisla 
ture  he  was  accused  of  being  an  infidel  and  he  never  de 
nied  it.  He  was  accused  of  saying  Jesus  was  not  the  Son 
of  God,  and  he  never  denied  it. 

"In  1854  he  made  me  erase  the  name  of  God  from  a  speech 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  83 

1  was  about  to  make.    He  did  this  also  to  one  of  his  friends 
in  Washington  City. 

t      "I  know  when  he  left  Springfield  for  Washington  he  had 
undergone  no  change  in  his  opinion  on  religion. ' ' 

DENNIS  HANKS,,  Lincoln's  first  cousin,  says: 

"Abe  would  often  collect  a  crowd  of  boys  and  men 
around  him  to  make  fun  of  the  preacher.  He  frequently 
reproduced  the  sermon  with  a  nasal  twang,  rolling  his  eyes, 
and  all  sorts  of  droll  aggravations,  to  the  great  delight  of 
the  wild  fellows  assembled.  Sometimes  he  broke  out  with 
stories  passably  humorous  and  invariably  vulgar." 

MR.  JESSE  E.  FALL,,  one  of  Lincoln's  intimate  friends,  says: 

"Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  were  not  a  little  surprised  at 
finding  in  his  biographies  statements  of  his  religious  opin 
ions  utterly  at  variance  with  his  known  sentiments." 

Again  HERNDON  says: 

"His  stepmother  denied  that  he  ever  went  into  a  corner 
to  ponder  sacred  writings  and  wet  the  pages  with  his 
tears  of  penitence." 

LAMON,  in  his  "Life  of  Lincoln/'  says: 

"When  he  went  to  New  Salem  he  consorted  with  free" 
thinkers,  and  joined  them  in  deriding  the  gospel  story  of 
Jesus.    He  wrote  a  labored  book  on  this  subject,  which 'his 
friend  Hill  burned  up.    Not  until  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  death 
were  any  of  these  facts  denied."  » 

DENNIS  HANKS  says: 

"Abe  did  not  sing  sacred  songs,  but  the  songs  he  sang 
were  of  a  very  questionable  character." 
On  page  63  of  LAMON'S  "Life  of  Lincoln"  is  found: 

"Abe  wrote  many  satires  which  are  only  remembered 
in  fragments;  if  we  had  them  in  full  they  would  be  too 
indecent  to  print." 

If  Abraham  Lincoln  had  believed  that  God's  Word  is  in 
spired,  and  had  believed  in  the  Divinity  of  our  Lord,  and  had 
ever  connected  himself  with  a  Christian  church  then  he  could 
be  held  up  as  a  model,  possibly,  for  Christian  children  to  emu-' 
late.  But  as  he  failed  in  all  these  essentials  for  a  Christian's 
belief  and  practice  it  is  dangerous  to  have  our  young  people 
have  him  held  up  as  an  exemplar. 

They  would  feel  it  is  not  necessary  to  believe  in  God's  Word; 
it  is  not  necessary  to  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of 
God;  it  is  not  necessary  to  publicly  confess  Him  before  men. 


84  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

They  would  naturally  think  if  * '  the  greatest  man  that  ever  lived 
in  the  world"  did  not  find  these  things  necessary,  why  should 
they? 

Holland's  "Life  of  Lincoln"  is  a  "Pretended  Life  of  Lin 
coln,"  written  after  his  apotheosis  begun. 

Ida  Tarbell's  "Life  of  Lincoln"  was  called  by  Herndon  and 
Lamon  a  "So-called  Life  of  Lincoln." 

It  will  not  be  safe  for  ministers  of  the  gospel,  editors  of 
Christian  newspapers,  Sunday  School  teachers,  public  speakers 
or  true  historians  to  quote  from  those  who  deified  Lincoln  after 
martyrdom. 

PART  II. 

Abraham  Lincoln  As  He  Was  Not — (After  His  Assassination). 

AUTHORITY: 

Northern  writers  claim  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  ' '  the  great 
est  man  that  ever  lived;"  that  he  was  "the  Godliest  man  that 
has  walked  the  earth  since  Christ." 
ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART  : 

"Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  greatest  man  of  the  Civil 
War  Period." 

SUNDAY  SCHOOL  TIMES: 

' '  Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  Christian  exemplar  for  children 
today." 

JUDD  STEWART,  Address,  North  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  Feb.  10,  1917 : 

"Here  in  this  new  world  country  with  no  pride  of  an 
cestry  arose  the  greatest  man  since  the  meek  and  lowly 
Nazarene ;  a  man  whose  life  had  a  greater  influence  on  the 
human  race  than  any  teacher,  thinker  or  toiler  since  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  Era." 

P.  D.  Ross,  an  Englishman,  in  "Harper's  Weekly,"  November 
.  7,  1908,  said: 

"Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  greatest  man  that  the  world 
has  ever  possessed." 

DON  PIATT,  after  Lincoln's  martyrdom,  says: 

"The  greatest  figure  looming  up  in  our  history." 
Stanton,  before  his  death,  in  a  letter  to  President  Buchanan, 
expressed  his  contempt  for  Lincoln.     He  also  advised  the  revo- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  85 

lutionary  overthrow  of  the  Lincoln  government  in  order  that 
McClellan  be  made  military  dictator. 

After  his  assassination,  standing  over  Lincoln's  dead  body, 
he  said,  "Now  he  belongs  to  the  ages." 
JOHN  HAY,  Secretary  of  State,  said  (after  Lincoln's  death)  : 

"Abraham  Lincoln,   First  President  of  the  Republican 
party,  the  greatest,  wisest,  Godliest  man  that  has  appeared 
on  earth  since  Christ. ' ' 
J.  G.  HOLLAND: 

"Lincoln  unequalled  since  "Washington  in  services  to  the 
Nation." 
J.  G.  HOLLAND  waited  until  after  Lincoln  died  to  say: 

"Mr.  Lincoln  will  always  be  remembered  as  eminently  a 
Christian  President.  Conscience,  not  popular  applause, 
not  love  of  power,  was  the  ruling  motive  of  Lincoln's  life. 
No  stimulant  ever  entered  his  mouth,  no  profanity  ever 
came  from  his  lips." 
J.  G.  HOLLAND: 

"Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  first  of  all  men  who  have 
walked  the  earth  since  the  Nazarene. ' ' 
WILLIAM  M.  DAVIDSON: 

"Abraham  Lincoln   was   the   greatest   statesmen   of   the 
Nineteenth  Century." 
J.  B.  WADE: 

"History  will  show  Abraham  Lincoln  to  be  the  greatest 
man  that  ever  lived." 
J.  M.  MERRILL,  in  Detroit  Free  Press,  says : 

"Abraham  Lincoln  is  so  far  above  every  other  man  in 
human  history  that  to  compare  him  to  others  seems  sac- 
sacrilege. 

"No  where  on  the  earth  is  there  a  historic  character  to 
compare  to  our  sainted  martyr,  Abraham  Lincoln. ' ' 
If  this  adulation  of  him  was  taken  from  what  was  said  of  him 
before  his  martyrdom  the  South  would  be  willing  to  accept  it— 
but  the  South  is  not  willing  to  accept  what  has  been  said  of  him 
since  that  period,  for  it  does  not  tally  with  his  life  as  given  by 
his  friends  and  those  who  knew  him  best.  Herndon,  his  friend 
and  law  partner  for  twenty  years;  Lamon,  an  intimate  friend 
and  one  who  often  acted  as  private  secretary  to  him;  his  step 
mother,  whom  he  idolized ;  Dennis  Hanks,  his  cousin  and  play 
mate — all  of  these  loved  him,  but  were  honest,  saw  his  faults 
and  were  willing  to  acknowledge  them. 


86  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

Testimony  such  as:  John  Hay,  his  Secretary  of  State,  Nico- 
lay,  a  personal  friend,  Ida  Tarbell  and  J.  G.  Holland,  who  put 
him  on  a  pedestal,  worshipped  him  and  were  blind  to  his  faults, 
should  not  be  held  as  reliable. 

WALTER    MCELREATH,    after    reading    Rothschild's    "Lincoln: 
Master  of  Men" : 

"Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  an  ordinary  man  we  all  agree, 
but  greatness  is  a  relative  term  and  considering  the  oppor 
tunities  and  responsibilities  and  station  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
occupied  he  must  be  judged  by  the  standards  of  greatness 
by  which  other  great  men  are  judged.  Judging  him  by 
these  standards  I  cannot  see  how  Mr.  Lincoln  was  at  all  a 
great  man  or  how  he  can  be  said  to  possess  even  the  second 
order  of  greatness. 

"How  can  a  man  be  considered  great  when  the  men  as 
sociated  with  him  four  years  in  such  an  enterprise  as  civil 
war  were  not  impressed  with  his  greatness  until  the  enter 
prise  was  over,  is  more  than  I  can  understand. 

"McClellan  had  known  him  years  before  the  war  and  was 
not  impressed  with  his  greatness.  Chase,  Seward  and  Stan- 
ton  never  thought  him  a  great  man  until  after  his  death. 
It  is  strange  that  such  men  living  close  to  him  for  four  years 
could  not  recognize  in  him  some  signs  of  greatness  while 
he  lived.  I  cannot  see  anything  great  in  his  choice  of  men 
or  generals.  His  ministers  were  chosen  to  remove  them 
from  opposition  to  the  administration.  He  held  the  power 
to  depose — his  mastery  over  men  came  from  his  power  to 
exercise  unlimited  authority." 

JAS.  A.  STEVENS: 

"Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  great  man  and  a  patriot,  yet  there 
is  no  doubt  his  cruel  taking  off  had  not  a  little  to  do  with 
his  exaltation  to  the  position  he  now  occupies  in  the  eyes 
of  a  sympathetic  world." 

DR.  LITTLEFIELD,  Needham,  Mass.: 

"Lee's  shrine  at  Lexington,  not  Lincoln's  tomb,  will  be 
the  shrine  of  American  patriotism  when  once  history  is 
told  correctly." 


XV. 

Reconstruction  Was  Not  Just  to  the  South.     This  Injustice 
Made  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  a  Necessity. 

AUTHORITY: 
RIDPATH'S  "Universal  History,"  p.  176: 

"It  was  soon  seen,  however,  by  Congress  and  the  North, 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  87 

to  follow  the  method  suggested  by  President  Johnson  would 
be  to  remand  at  once  the  control  of  the  lately  seceded  States 
into  the  hand  of  the  old  Confederate  party.  Right  or 
wrong,  it  was  determined  that  this  should  not  be  done,  and 
Congress  determined  that  the  military  and  suppressive 
method  of  governing  the  seceded  States  should  be  em 
ployed." 
MUZZEY'S  "American  History,"  p.  486: 

"The  rules  of  these  negro  governments  of  1868  was  an 
indescribable  orgy  of  extravagance,  fraud  and  disgusting 
incompetence — a  travesty  on  government.  Unprincipled 
politicians  dominated  the  States'  government  and  plunged 
the  States  further  and  further  into  debt  by  voting  them 
selves  enormous  salaries,  and  reaping  in  many  ways  hun-. 
dreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  in  graft.  In  South  Carolina 
$200,000  were  spent  in  furnishing  the  State  Capitol  with 
costly  plate  glass  mirrors,  lounges,  arm  chairs,  a  free  bar 
,  and  other  luxurious  appointments  for  the  use  of  the  negro 
and  scalawag  legislators.  It  took  the  South  nine  years  to 
get  rid  of  these  governments." 

MARK  TWAIN  said: 

"The  eight  years  in  America,  1860-1868,  uprooted  insti 
tutions  centuries  old,  and  wrought  so  profoundly  upon  the 
national  character  of  the  people  that  its  influence  will  be 
felt  for  two  or  three  generations." 

"Secret  Political  Societies  in  the  South,,"  by  Walter  Henry 
Cook,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  Western  Reserve  University: 

' '  A  new  economic  system  could  have  been  built  up  by  the 
men  and  women  of  the  South  with  freed  slaves  had  they 
been  left  alone.  The  policy  of  Thad  Stevens  and  Charles 
Sumner  after  Lincoln's  death  stirred  up  ex-slaves  to  hate 
the  white  men  of  the  South,  especially  when  they  preached 
a  gospel  of  social  equality  for  which  the  men  of  the  South 
would  not  stand  under  any  circumstances." 

The  next  quotation  is  from  Dan  Vorhees,  Representative  for 
many  years,  and  later  a  United  States  Senator  from  Indiana. 
In  his  speech,  "Plunder  of  Eleven  States,"  made  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  March  23,  1872,  he  pictures  well  the  animus 
of  Reconstruction.  He  said : 

"From  turret  to  foundation  you  tore  down  the  govern 
ment  of  eleven  States.  You  left  not  one  stone  upon  another. 
You  not  only  destroyed  their  local  laws,  but  you  trampled 
upon  their  ruins.  You  called  conventions  to  frame  new 
Constitutions  for  these  old  States.  You  not  only  said  who 
should  be  elected  to  rule  over  these  States,  but  you  said 


88  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

who  should  elect  them.  You  fixed  the  quality  and  the  color 
of  the  voters.  You  purged  the  ballot  box  of  intelligence 
and  virtue,  and  in  their  stead  you  placed  the  most  ignorant 
and  unqualified  race  in  the  world  to  rule  over  these  peo 
ple." 

Then  taking   State  by   State  he   showed   what   Thad   Stevens' 
policy  had  done : 

1  'Let  the  great  State  of  Georgia  speak  first,"  he  said. 
"You  permitted  her  to  stand  up  and  start  in  her  new  ca 
reer,  but  seeing  some  flaw  in  your  handiwork,  you  again 
destroyed  and  again  reconstructed  her  State  government. 
You  clung  to  her  throat;  you  battered  her  features  out  of 
shape  and  recognition,  determined  that  your  party  should 
have  undisputed  possession  and  enjoyment  of  her  offices, 
her  honors,  and  her  substance.  Then  bound  hand  and  foot 
you  handed  her  over  to  the  rapacity  of  robbers.  Her  pro 
lific  and  unbounded  resources  inflamed  their  desires. 

"In  1861  Georgia  was  free  from  debt.  Taxes  were  light 
as  air.  The  burdens  of  government  were  easy  upon  her 
citizens.  Her  credit  stood  high,  and  when  the  war  closed 
she  was  still  free  from  indebtedness.  After  six  years  of 
Republican  rule  you.  present  her,  to  the  horror  of  the  world, 
loaded  with  a  debt  of  $50,000,000,  and  the  crime  against 
Georgia  is  the  crime  this  same  party  has  committed  against 
the  other  Southern  States.  Your  work  of  destruction  was 
more  fatal  than  a  scourge  of  pestilence,  war  or  famine. 

"Rufus  B.  Bullock,  Governor  of  Georgia,  dictated  the 
legislation  of  Congress,  and  the  great  commonwealth  of 
Georgia  was  cursed  by  his  presence.  With  such  a  Gov 
ernor,  and  such  a  legislature  in  perfect  harmony,  morally 
and  politically,  their  career  will  go  down  to  posterity  with 
out  a  rival  for  infamous  administrations  of  the  world.  That 
Governor  served  three  years  and  then  absconded  with  all 
of  the  gains.  The  Legislature  of  two  years  spent  $100.000 
more  than  had  been  spent  during  any  eight  previous  years. 
They  even  put  the  children's  money,  laid  aside  for  educa 
tion  of  white  and  black,  into  their  own  pockets." 

When  Senator  Voorhees  came  to  South  Carolina,  the  proud 
land  of  Marion  and  Sumter,  his  indignation  seems  to  have 
reached  its  pinnacle: 

"There  is  no  form  of  ruin  to  which  she  has  not  fallen  a 
prey,  no  curse  with  which  she  has  not  been  baptized,  no  cup 
of  humiliation  and  suffering  her  people  have  not  drained 
to  the  dregs.  There  she  stands  the  result  of  your  handi 
work,  bankrupt,  in  money,  ruined  in  credit,  her  bonds 
hnwkod  about  the  streets  at  ten  cents  on  the  dollar,  her 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  89 

prosperity  blighted  at  home  and  abroad,  without  peace, 
happiness,  or  hope.  There  she  stands  with  her  skeleton 
frame  admonishing  all  the  world  of  the  loathsome  conse 
quences  of  a  government  fashioned  in  hate  and  fanaticism, 
and  founded  upon  the  ignorant  and  vicious  classes  of  man 
hood.  Her  sins  may  have  been  many  and  deep,  and  the 
color  of  scarlet,  yet  they  will  become  as  white  as  snow  in 
comparison  with  those  you  have  committed  against  her  in 
the  hour  of  her  helplessness  and  distress. " 

Then  he  took  up  in  like  manner  State  after  State,  and  wound 
up  with  this: 

"I  challenge  the  darkest  annals  of  the  human  race  for  a 
parallel  to  the  robberies  which  have  been  perpetrated  on 
these  eleven  American  States.  Had  you  sown  seeds  of  kind 
ness  <and  good  will  they  would  long  ere  this  have  blossomed 
into  prosperity  and  peace.  Had  you  sown  seeds  of  honor, 
you  would  have  reaped  a  golden  harvest  of  contentment 
and  obedience.  Had  you  extended  your  charities  and  your 
justice  to  a  distressed  people  you  would  have  awakened  a 
grateful  affection  in  return.  But  as  you  planted  in  hate 
and  nurtured  in  corruption  so  have  been  the  fruits  which 
you  have  gathered." 

Quoting  again  from  Walter  Henry  Cook  in  regard  to  Recon 
struction  graft: 

' '  Governor  Warmouth  of  Louisiana  accumulated  one  and 
a  half  million  in  four  years  on  a  salary  of  $8,000  a  year. 
Governor  Moses  of  South  Carolina  acknowledged  that  he 
had  accepted  $65,000  in  bribes.  Governor  Clayton  of 
Arkansas  said  he  intended  to  people  the  State  with  negroes. 
The  carpetbag  government  of  Florida  stole  meat  and  flour 
given  for  helpless  women  and  children.  In  North  Caro 
lina  and  Alabama  negro  convicts  were  made  justices  of  the 
peace,  men  who  were  unable  to  read  or  write.  In  the  South 
Carolina  Legislature  94  black  men  were  members.  The 
Speaker  of  the  House,  the  Clerk  of  the  House,  the  door 
keeper,  the  chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee, 
and  the  Chaplain,  were  all  black  men  and  some  of  them 
could  neither  read  nor  write." 

The  next  is  an  extract  from  The  Chicago  Chronicle,  written  by 
a  Northern  man: 

"The  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  grew 
out  of  a  spirit  of  revenge,  for  the  purpose  of  punishing  the 
Southern  people.  It  became  a  part  of  the  Constitution  by 
fraud  and  force  to  secure  the  results  of  war.  The  war  was 
not  fought  to  secure  negro  suffrage. 


90  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

1 '  The  history  of  the  world  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  a 
parallel  to  the  spirit  of  savagery  which  it  inflicted  upon  a 
defeated  and  impoverished  people,  the  unspeakable  bar 
barous  rule  of  a  servile  race  just  liberated  from  bondage. 
Negro  suffrage  was  a  crime  against  the  white  people  of  the 
South.  It  was  a  crime  against  the  blacks  of  the  South.  It 
was  a  crime  against  the  whole  citizenship  of  the  Republic. 
Political  power  was  never  conferred  upon  a  race  so  poorly 
equipped  to  receive  it." 

Now  a  last  quotation  from  Charles  Francis  Adams,  the  grand 
son  of  John  Quincy  Adams : 

"I  have  ever  been  one  of  those  who  have  thought  ex 
tremely  severe  measures  were  dealt  the  Southern  people 
after  the  Civil  War,  measures  of  unprecedented  severity. 
The  Southern  community  was  not  only  desolated  during  the 
war  but  $3,000,000,000  of  property  confiscated  after  the 
war.  I  am  not  aware  that  history  records  a  similar  act 
super-added  to  the  destruction  and  desolation  of  war." 
Again : 

"Their  manumitted  slaves  belonging  to  an  inferior  and 
alien  race,  were  enfranchised  and  put  in  control  of  the 
whole  administration.  Is  there  a  similar  case  recorded  in 
history?  If  so  I  have  never  heard  of  it.  It  was  simply  a 
case  of  insane  procedure,  and  naturally  resulted  in  dis 
aster.  We  stabbed  the  South  to  the  quick,  and  during  all 
the  years  of  Reconstruction  turned  the  dagger  round  and 
round  in  the  festering  wound.  If  the  South  had  been  per 
mitted  to  secede,  slavery  would  have  died  a  natural  death." 

The  United  States  government  is  the  only  government  that 
ever  freed  her  slaves  without  giving  just  compensation  for  them. 
Dr.  Wyeth  in  his  "With  Sabre  and  Scalpel/'  published  by 
Harper  &  Brothers,  New  York,  says : 

"Nione  but  those  who  went  through  this  period  have  any 
conception  of  it.  Defeat  on  battlefield  brought  no  dishonor, 
but  all  manner  of  oppressions,  with  poverty  and  enforced 
domination  of  a  race  lately  in  slavery  brought  humiliation 
and  required  a  courage  little  less  than  superhuman." 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  advocated  paying  the  South  for  her  slaves: 

"The  slaves  taken  from  the  South  by  arms  should  be 
paid  for." 

Lincoln  was  right.     God  has  never  allowed  a  nation  to  pros 
per  where  a  known  wrong  is  kept  unrighted. 
"Secret  Political  Societies  in  the  South  During  the  Period  of 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  91 

Reconstruction/'  Walter  Henry  Cook;  Western  Reserve  Uni 
versity,  Cleveland,  Ohio: 

"The  Ku  Klux  accomplished  much.  From  a  poliitcal 
viewpoint  it  secured  home  rule  for  several  of  the  Southern 
States;  it  ended  the  disgraceful  rule  of  the  carpetbaggers 
therein;  -and  it  helped  to  re-establish  honest  and  efficient 
governmental  institutions.  This  example  was  an  inspira 
tion  which  after  1872  soon  led  the  men  of  the  Southern 
States  still  in  Radical  control  to  a  glorious  victory  in  re 
gaining  self-government.  From  an  economic  standpoint, 
the  negroes  had  been  frightened  into  going  to  work,  and 
were  prevented,  to  a  large  extent,  from  breaking  labor  con 
tracts.  These  were  important  services  in  the  rehabilitation 
of  the  South.  From  a  social  standpoint  the  Klan  had  pro 
tected  property,  had  protected  life,  and  had  brought  order 
out  of  chaos. " 

MRS.  ROSE'S  "History  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,"  Historian-Gen 
eral,  U.  D.  C.  : 

•  "The  Ku  Klux  were  opposed  to  the  shedding  of  human 
blood,  and  violence  was 'never  used  except  as  a  last  resort. 
Repeated  warnings  were  given  to  offenders,  and  it  was  only 
when  they  were  not  heeded  that  the  Ku  Klux  resorted  to 
extreme  measures. 

"The  methods  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  were  generally  peace 
ful  and  without  destruction  of  life  and  property,  and 
when  its  objects  had  been  accomplished  there  was  no  per- 
.  secution,  nor  pillaging,  nor  hounding  of  any  one — and 
when  tranquility  was  restored  to  the  land,  the  Ku  Klux 
folded  their  tents  like  the  Arabs,  and  as  silently  stole  away." 


XVI. 
Race  Prejudice  Is  Stronger  in  the  North  Than  in  the  South. 

Before  the  Sixties,  lynchings  of  negroes  in  the  South  were 
of  very  rare  occurrence — there  was  no  occasion  for  it — we  had 
no  incendiary  literature  distributed  among  the  negroes  until 
John  Brown  tried  it  and  failed.  The  incendiary  literature  is 
now  largely  responsible  for  present  day  conditions. 

The  South  is  the  negro's  friend.  The  South  wants  the  negro 
to  stay  in  the  South.  The  South  has  not  encouraged  immigra 
tion  from  the  Latin  States  for  fear  of  race  antagonism.  All 
that  the  South  asks  is  to  be  let  alone  in  her  management  of  the 
negro,  so  that  the  friendly  relations  may  continue. 


92  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

The  Southern  people  encourage  the  negroes  to  buy  land  and 
have  their  own  homes.  The  climate  of  the  South  suits  the  negro 
best — the  South  is  his  logical  home. 

The  South  claims  that  race  prejudice  has  been,  and  now  is, 
far  greater  in  the  North  than  in  the  South. 

In  his  "Democracy  in  America,"  De  Tocqueville,  the  French 
writer,  says: 

"Though  the  electoral  franchise  has  been  conferred  on 
the  negroes  in  all  the  free  States,  if  they  come  forward  to 
vote  their  lives  are  in  danger.  Negroes  may  serve  by  law  on 
juries  but  prejudice  repels  them  from  office.  They  have 
separate  schools,  separate  hospital  wards,  and  separate  gal 
leries  in  the  theatres.  In  the  South  it  is  quite  different 
with  the  negro.  Undoubtedly,  the  prejudice  of  the  race 
appears  to  be  stronger  in  the  States  that  have  abolished 
slaves  than  in  the  States  where  slavery  still  exists. 

"White  carpenters,  white  bricklayers  and  white  painters 
will  not  work  side  by  side  with  the  blacks  in  the  North  but 
do  it  in  almost  every  Southern  State  unless  Northern  men 
among  their  workmen  oppose  it.  But  in  the  South  white 
men  do  not  sit  down  to  eat  with  black  men  as  they  do  in 
many  parts  of  the  North. " 

Negroes  left  their  homes  in  Alabama  to  work  in  Illinois,  but 
many  were  killed  and  others  driven  from  the  State.  Were  the 
murderers  of  those  negroes  ever  brought  to  trial? 

One  Republican  said : 

"If  any  more  negroes  come  to  Illinois,  I  will  meet  them 
on  the  border  with  gatling-guns ! ' ' 

MR.  SEWARD,  March  3,  1858,  said : 

"The  white  man  needs  this  continent  to  labor  in  and 
must  have  it. ' ' 

The  Legislature  of  Kansas,  the  home  of  John  Brown,  said : 
"This  State  is  for  whites  only." 

In  1850,  1855  and  1865,  Michigan  refused  suffrage  to  free 
negroes. 

In  1864  no  negro  could  vote  in  Nevada. 

"In  Illinois  (Lincoln's  State)  no  negro  nor  mulatto  was 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  State  ten  days. 

"If  a  negro  came  into  the  State  he  was  to  be  sold  at  auc 
tion." 

In  twenty-seven  counties  of  Indiana  no  negro  was  allowed  to 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  93 

live.     If  any  white  man  encouraged  him  to  come  to  the  State 
he  was  fined. 

In  Boston  the  negroes  are  segregated. 

In  Ohio  the  negroes  were  warned  if  they  did  not  segregate 
some  dire  calamity  would  befall  them. 

In  New  York  *City  and  Washington  City  this  question  of 
segregation  is  of  serious  import  today  and  under  constant  dis 
cussion. 

No  negro  can  live  in  Oregon. 
MUZZEY'S  "American  History": 

"Ohio,  in  1867,  at  the  very  time  that  Congress  was  forc 
ing  negro  suffrage  on  the  South,  rejected  by  50,000  votes 
to  give  the  ballot  to  the  few  negroes  in  that  State." 

LUNT'S  "Origin  of  the  Late  War": 

"The  negroes  were  perfectly  happy  in  their  condition  of 
slavery  in  the  South — they  were  not  only  happy  but  proud 
of  it.  They  labored  it  is  true  for  their  daily  bread,  but 
they  were  nursed  in  sickness,  and  cared  for  in  old  age. 
Upon  certain  conditions  they  could  obtain  freedom.  Free 
dom  was  frequently  granted  for  faithful  services." 

The  South  never  understood  why  the  abolitionists  made  a 
bitter  fight  against  slavery  under  humane  .Christian  masters  in 
the  South  and  no  fight  at  all  against  the  slave  trade  in  the 
North.  If  cruelty  to  Africans  was  really  their  object  in  fight 
ing  slavery,  the  slave  ships  where  they  were  huddled  together 
standing  during  the  long  voyage  offered  the  best  objects  of 
attack. 

As  to  the  condition  of  the  slaves  in  the  South  under  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery,  Major-General  Quitman,  of  New  York,  an 
army  officer  who  was  stationed  near  a  Mississippi  plantation  be 
fore  the  war,  says  in  a  letter  to  his  father : 

'"Every  night  she  has  family  prayers  with  her  slaves. 
When  a  minister  comes,  which  is  very  frequently,  prayers 
are  said  night  and  morning,  and  chairs  are  always  provid 
ed  for  the  servants. 

"They  are  married  by  a  clergyman  of  their  own  color, 
and  a  sumptuous  supper  is  always  prepared.  They  are  a 
happy,  careless,  unreflecting,  good-natured  race — who  left 
to  themselves  would  degenerate  into  drones  or  brutes.  They 
have  great  family  pride  and  are  the  most  arrant  aristo 
crats  in  the  world."  ("The  Secession  War  in  America," 
by  J.  P.  Shaffull,  published  in  New  York,  1862). 


94  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

"Are  the  white  slaves  today — those  in  the  industrial 
bondage — as  well  cared  for  as  were  the  black  slaves  before 
the  civil  war?  Is  the  industrial  slave  as  well  fed,  as  well 
clothed,  as  well  housed  as  these  slaves  were  by  their  mas 
ters? 

"Are  the  industrial  slaves  that  work  in  the  mills  and 
mines  and  sweat  shops  of  today  as  well  cared  for  as  were 
the  slaves  of  the 'South  that  worked  in  the  fields?"  (Cop 
ied  from  an  editorial  in  Pittsburg  (Pa.)  Daily). 

It  was  suggested  that  the  negroes  be  put  into  the  Confederate 
army  with  a  promise  of  freedom  when  the  war  ended.  The 
North  felt  assured  that  the  negroes  would  never  fight  for  the 
South. 

Dr.  Hancock,  in  the  Richmond  Hospital,  put  them  to  the 
test.  Out  of  seventy-two  approached  on  the  subject  sixty  said: 

"Yes,  they  would  gladly  go  to  protect  their  master's 
families  and  would  fight  the  enemy  to  the  bitter  end. " 
("War  of  Rebellion"  Series  IV.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  1193). 

"Boston  Herald/'  September  12,  1919: 

"Feeling  against  "William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  other 
abolitionists  ran  high  in  this  city  in  1851,  but  it  was  in 
New  York  that  the  home  of  a  prominent  citizen  was  sacked, 
it  was  in  Philadelphia  that  a  public  hall  was  burned  by  a 
mob  in  the  presence  of  the  mayor  and  the  police. 

"Harrison  Gray  Otis,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  denounced  the 
English  anti-slavery  orator,  George  Thompson,  as  hired  by 
British  gold  to  destroy  the  Union. 

"At  a  gathering  in  the  building  that  housed  'The  Lib 
erator,'  a  mob  caught  Garrison,  tied  a  rope  about  his  neck 
to  drag  him  through  the  streets. 

"A  body  of  colored  men  at  another  time  took  Shadrack, 
the  colored  waiter  at  the  Coffee  House  from  the  officers 
of  the  law,  and  sent  him  away  to  Canada. 

"When  Thomas  Sims  was  sent  back  to  slavery  the  Court 
House  was  surrounded  with  breast-high  chains  by  the  Unit 
ed  States  Marshal,  so  that  the  judges,  and  all  others  hav 
ing  business  in  the  building  were  obliged  to  stoop  in  order 
to  reach  the  doors,  and  that  day  seems  mild  to  the  mobs  in 
Boston  today." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY  95 

XVII. 

The  South  Was  More  Interested  in  the  Freedom  of  the  Slaves 
Than  the  North. 

In  1816,  "The  African  Colonization  Society"  was  organized 
with  James  Madison,  a  slaveholder,  as  president.  Thomas  Jef 
ferson,  a  slaveholder,  testifies  that  slaveholders  were  planning  to 
free  their  slaves. 

When  James  Monroe  became  President  he  secured  a  tract  of 
land  about  the  size  of  Mississippi  on  the  West  coast  of  Africa, 
named  Liberia,  and  its  capital  was  called  Monrovia  to  honor 
him,  and  to  this  the  slaves  as  freed  were  to  be  sent.  In  1847  it 
became  a  Republic  with  only  negroes  as  officers.  Then  it  was 
protected  from  many  encroachments  of  European  monarchies 
by  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  It  was  Southern  statesmen  and  slave 
holders  who  were  most  interested  in  this,  although  Northern 
philanthropists  greatly  aided  by  moral  and  material  support. 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr.,  the  historian,  realized  this  and 
said : 

"Had  the  South  been  allowed  to  manage  this  question 
unfettered  the  slaves  would  have  been — ere  this — fully 
emancipated  and  that  without  bloodshed  or  race  problems. " 

Again,  the  fact  stands  that  Thomas  Jefferson,  a  large  slave 
holder,  when  Virginia  ceded  her  Northwest  Territory,  made  it  a 
condition  that  slavery  should  not  be  allowed  in  it,  and  no  one 
from  the  South  objected. 

A  committee  of  five  Virginians — Jefferson,  Pendleton,  Wythe, 
Mason  and  Thomas  Lee — was  appointed  to  revise  the  laws  and 
prepare  all  slaveholders  in  the  State  for  the  gradual  emanci 
pation  of  their  slaves.  This  law  said: 

"All  children  born  after  the  passage  of  the  Act  should  be 
free,  but  must  remain  with  their  mothers  until  old  enough 
to  be  self-supporting." 

Thirty-two  times  Virginia  legislated  against  slavery. 
Thomas  Jefferson  urged  that  all  slaveholders  free  their  slaves 
by  gradual  emancipation  as  soon  as  possible,  for  by  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  where  a  State's  right  was  interfered  with  by 
other  States,  he  saw  plainly  that  the  day  might  come  when  sud 
den  emancipation  would  take  place,  and  he  said  "human  nature 
shudders  at  the  prospect  of  it,"  but  he  thanked  God  he  would 
not  be  alive  to  see  it. 


96  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

George  Washington  urged  the  gradual  emancipation  of  his 
slaves  and  freed  them,  by  his  will,  and  told  Thomas  Jefferson  he 
wished  all  slaves  could  be  freed. 

George  Mason  believed  in  emancipation  of  his  slaves  and 
freed  them. 

John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  freed  his  slaves  and  bought  ter 
ritory  in  Ohio  to  place  them. 

Henry  Clay  urged  the  gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves. 

General  Lee  and  his  mother  believed  in  gradual  emancipation, 
and  practiced  it  and  so  did  many  slaveholders  at  the  South. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  slaves  had  been  freed  in  the  South 
before  1820. 

CONGRESSIONAL  RECORDS: 

* '  Jefferson  Davis  when  in  the  United  States  Senate,  urged 
that  a  plan  be  made  for  emancipation  that  would  be  best 
for  the  slaveholders  and  the  slave.  This  was  why  South 
ern  men  were  so  insistent  about  securing  more  slave  terri 
tory  to  relieve  the  congested  condition  of  the  slave  States 
that  they  might  prepare  the  slaves  as  freed  for  their  future 
government. ' ' 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  said: 

*  *  Gradual  emancipation  was  the  best  plan,  and  the  North 
should  not  criticize  too  severely  the  Southern  brethren  for 
tardiness  in  this  matter." 

"The  Abolition  Crusade  which  began  at  the  time  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  in  1820,  and  which  reached  an  in 
tense  pitch  in  1839,  caused  Southern  men  to  withdraw  mem 
bership  in  abolition  societies." 

The  gouth  claims  Northern  slaveholders  were  more  anxious 
to  hold  their  slaves  than  were  the  slaveholders  of  the  South. 

"In  1860  there  were  only  3,950,531  slaves  in  the  South 
and  many  wills  had  been  written  freeing  them  by  gradual 
emancipation.  Many  of  the  slaves  in  the  South  before  the 
war  belonged  to  Northern  slaveholders.  Girard,  of  Phila 
delphia,  worked  his  slaves  on  a  large  sugar  plantation  in 
Louisiana.  It  was  from  the  profits  of  this  plantation  Girard 
College  was  built.  Hemmingway,  of  Boston,  had  his  slaves 
on  a  plantation — not  in  the  Southern  States,  Ibut  in  Cuba 
— and  his  will  left  them  to  his  daughter  as  late  as  1870." 

RICHARDSON'S  "Defense  of  the  South,"  p.  20: 

:i  Thomas  Elkins,  of  Effingham  County,  Georgia,  before 
1860,  offered  to  free  his  slaves  and  send  them  back  to 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  97 


Africa  at  his  own  expense  and  the  slaves  begged  to  let  them 
remain  with  him.  Among  these  slaves  were  the  sons  of 
African  kings  and  princes." 

jJJUNDY's  "Universal  Emancipation'': 

"There  were  before  the  Missouri  Compromise,  1820, 
106  anti-slavery  societies — with  5,150  members  in  the  South 
and  24  abolition  societies  in  the  North  with  only  920  mem 
bers." 

In  1831,  Virginia  wanted  a  bill  passed  for  gradual  emanci 
pation  of  the  slaves  and  it  was  lost  by  one  vote — that  of  the 
chairman.    Virginia  made  23  attempts  to  legislate  about  freeing 
the  slaves  and  abolishing  the  slave  trade.    When  61  women  and 
children  were  murdered  by  Nat  Turner's  insurrection  at  South- 
hampton,  Va.,  the  abolition  societies  in  the  South  disbanded. 
The  only  colony  to  forbid  slaves  was  Georgia. 
The  first  State  to  legislate  against  the  slave  trade  was  Georgia. 
The  first  bill  to  allow  a  slaveholder  to  free 'his  slaves  was  of 
fered  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  urged  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  that  the  slave  trade  be  forbidden.  John  Adams, 
of  Massachusetts,  urged  that  clause  be  omitted. 

The  only  State  that  made  it  a  felony  to  buy  a  slave  was  Vir 
ginia. 

Thomas  Jefferson  insisted  that  Ohio;  Illinois,  Indiana,  Mich 
igan,  and  Wisconsin  should  not  be  slave  states — and  yet  Vir 
ginia,  a  slave  State,  gave  this  territory. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  these  resolutions  to 
present  to  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  when  sectional  feel 
ing  was  at  its  height.  They  calmly  and  deliberately  weighed 
the  arguments  on  the  side  of  slaveholders,  and  then  as  calmly 
and  deliberately  weighed  those  on  the  side  of  the  abolitionists. 
Then  they  came  to  a  conclusion — they  said : 

"Nothing  which  is  not  founded  upon  the  eternal  princi 
ples  of  truth  and  justice  can  ever  long  prevail  against  an 
irresistible  force  of  public  disapprobation.  Your  commit 
tee  feel  that  the  conduct  of  the  abolitionists  is  not  only 
wrong  in  policy  but  erroneous  in  morals. 

"Your  committee  are  determined  to  fulfill  their  duty  to 
the  State  and  to  our  common  country  in  the  most  firm  and 
faithful  manner.  In  remembering  that  while  they  are  men 
of  Massachusetts,  they  are  incapable  of  meanly  forgetting 
that  they  also  are  Americans."  (George  Lunt,  Chairman). 


98  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

In  "The  Sectional  Controversy,"  (published  in  1864  when 
the  author,  W.  C.  Fowler,  was  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
Legislature)  the  author  says  that  fifteen  or  twenty  years  earlier, 
when  a  prominent  member  of  Congress  who  afterward  became  a 
member  of  a  Presidential  Cabinet  was  coming  out  from  a  heated 
sectional  debate,  lie  was  asked  by  the  writer,  an  old  college 
friend : 

"Will  you  tell  me  what  is  the  real  reason  why  Northern 
men  encourage  those  petitions   (for  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery)  f" 
The  reply  was: 

1  i  The  real  reason  is  that  the  South  will  not  let  us  have  a' 
tariff,  and  we  touch  them  where  they  will  feel  it." 

In  this  same  work  Mr.  Fowler  repeats  a  statement  made  in 
1859  by  Salmon  P.  Chase,  a  native  of.  New  England,  who  was 
then  the  Governor  of  Ohio,  and  after  serving  in  Lincoln's  Cab 
inet  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Talk 
ing  to  W.  D.  Chadwick  Glover,  he  said : 

"I  do  not  wish  to  have  the  slave  emancipated  because  I 
love  him,  but  because  I  hate  his  master." 

"When  John  Brown  came  into  Virginia  to  'free  the  slaves 
by  the  authority  of  God  Almighty,'  Governor  John  A.  An 
drews,  of  Massachusetts,  was  one  of  his  chief  supporters,  the 
hope  of  the  Massachusetts  abolitionists  being  that  the  ap 
pearance  of  Brown  and  his  little  band  would  excite  the 
slaves  to  rise  up  and  murder  the  white  people.  But  in  Sep 
tember,  1862,  when  General  Dix  proposed  to  remove  a  num 
ber  of  escaped  slaves  from  Fortress  Monroe  to  Massachus 
etts,  this  Governor  objected,  saying:  'I  do  not  concur  in  any 
way  or  to  any  degree  to  the  plan  proposed.  Permit  me  to 
say  that  the  Northern  States  are  of  all  places  the  worst  pos 
sible  to  select  for  an  asylum  for  negroes. ' ' 

In  Rice's  "Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  General  Don 
Piatt  who  canvassed  a  part  of  Illinois  for  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1860 
and  spent  some  time  in  the  company  of  the  President-elect,  says : 

"He  knew  and  saw  clearly  that  the  free  States  had  not 
only  no  sympathy  with  the  abolition  of  slavery  but  held 
fanatics,  as  abolitionists  were  called,  in  utter  abhorrence. " 

And  in  another  place  he  says: 

"Descended  from  the  poor  whites  of  a  slave  State  through 
many  generations,  Lincoln  inherited  the  contempt,  if  not 
the  hatred,  held  by  that  class  for  the  negro And  he 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  99 

couid  no  more  feel  a  sympathy  for  that  wretched  race  than 
he  could  for  the  horse  he  worked  or  the  hog  he  killed. ' ' 
And  to  all  this  it  is  interesting  to  add  the  views  of  John  Sher 
man,  the  brother  of  the  famous  William  Tecumseh.     On  April 
2,  1862,  he  said  in  the  Senate : 

"We  do  not  like  the  negroes.  We  do  not  disguise  our 
dislike.  As  my  friend  from  Indiana  (Mr.  Wright)  said 
yesterday:  'The  whole  people  of  the  Northwestern  States 
are  opposed  to  having  many  negroes  among  them  and  that 
principle  or  prejudice  has  been  engraved  in  the  legislation 
fo  nearly  all  of  the  Northwestern  States.'  ' 

And  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Northwestern  States  at 
that  time  were  inhabited  mainly  by  people  who  had  emigrated, 
or  those  whose  ancestors  had  emigrated,  from  Northern  States, 
most  of  them  perhaps  from  New  England. 

It  may  be  difficult,  therefore,  for  honest  seekers  after  truth 
to  understand  what  Northern  writers  mean  by  "the  moral 
awakening  of  the  North"  and  the  "dictatorial  policy  of  the 
South." 

Slavery  would  not  have  continued  in  the  South  had  the 
Confederacy  succeeded.  The  supremacy  of  the  white  man  would 
have  been  preserved  and  the  distinction  of  the  races  main 
tained. 

Thomas  Jefferson  called  the  slave  trade  "Piratical  warfare, 
the  opprobium  of  infidel  powers,"  "a  calamity  of  most  alarming 
nature." 

The  House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia  resolved  to  purchase  no 
slaves  that  had  not  been  in  the  country  twelve  months,  under 
a  penalty  of  $5,000  to  the  one  who  sold  a  slave  and  $2,500  for 
the  buyer  of  a  slave.  This  was  to  discourage  the  slave  trade. 

Did  Massachusetts  and  other  New  England  or  Eastern  States 
free  their  slaves  or  sell  them? 

The  chief  cause  of  race  riots  today  is  the  incendiary  news 
papers  published  by  the  negroes  in  Chicago,  New  York,  Omaha, 
Washington  City  and  other  places.  Suppress  these  newspapers 
and  arrest  the  editors  and  race  riots  will  cease.  The  South 
knows  the  negro  better  than  the  North  and  better  than  the 
negro,  born  free,  and  raised  in  the  North. 

When  such  abuse  comes  from  the  North  about  lynching  and 
crimes  in  the  South,  is  it  not  radically  unfair  to  bring  the 
charges  upon  violation  of  mob  law  in  Georgia — and  I  am  not 


100  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

defending  mob  law,  I  think  it  awful  wherever  found — when 
they  never  seem  to  realize  that  the  home  of  mob  law  was  in  New 
England  and  other  Northern  States? 

Was  not  Garrison  dragged  by  a  mob  in  the  streets  of  Boston? 
Did  not  New  Englanders  mob  officers  of  the  National  govern 
ment  for  trying  to  enforce  the  law?  This  was  never  heard  of 
in  the  South. 

Was  not  Lovejoy  put  to  death  by  a  mob  in  Illinois? 

Did  not  the  New  Yorkers  massacre  men,  women  and  children 
and  burn  nineteen  negroes? 

Was  not  Philadelphia  the  home  of  mobs  at  one  time? 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  nullified  when  in  1851  a  negro, 
Shadrack,  was  rescued  from  a  United  States  Marshal  by  a  mob 
in  Boston,  consisting  of  some  of  the  very  best  citizens. 

Did  not  a  mob  burn  an  orphanage  in  Philadelphia  and  kill 
women  and  children? 

Was  not  a  negro  chained  and  burned  at  Wilmington,  Dela 
ware? 

Was  not  a  negro  hanged  by  a  mob  before  the  court-house 
door  at  Urbana,  Ohio? 

Did  not  a  mob  with  dynamite  bombs  defy  the  police  in  Chi 
cago  and  not  one  offender  brought  to  justice?  This  never  hap 
pened  in  the  South. 

Will  those  newspapers  so  unjust  to  Georgia,  and  to  the  South 
as  a  whole,  look  into  those  mobs  at  Akron  and  Springfield, 
Ohio;  Danville  and  Springfield,  Illinois;  Evansville  and  Rock- 
port,  Indiana ;  and  Coatsville,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  States  much 
nearer  to  them  than  Georgia?  Will  they  not  inquire  into  sta 
tistics  and  truthfully  find  out,  if  they  are  honest  enough  to 
admit  it,  that  there  have  been  more  mobs  proportionately  to 
negro  population  in  the  North  than  in  the  South? 

Freedom  of  Slaves. 

GEORGE  LUNT  : 

"We  have  taken  counsel  of  our  fears  and  have  imposed 
upon  ourselves  another  burden,  likely  to  prove  intolerable 
in  the  end  by  the  enforced  discharge  from  restraint  3,000,- 
000  or  4,000,000  helpless,  irresponsible  creatures,  hitherto 
entirely  dependent  upon  others  and  incapable  by  nature,  of 
the  independent  action  demanded  by  a  civilized  community. 

"If,  then,  we  should  now  complete  this  notable  work  by 
conferring  upon  these  negroes  a  nominal  equality,  and  ask 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  101 

them  to  enter  upon  the  exercise  of  privileges  and  powers  to 
which  they  are  and  must  remain  forever  incompetent,  we 
shall  show  ourselves  also  most  unworthy  and  incapable  of 
self-government  of  the  understanding,  and  not  of  passion 
or  sentiment. " 

GEORGE  LUNT  : 

"However  general  was  the  dislike  of  slavery  in  the  free 
States,  yet  the  abolitionists  proper  had  only  here  and  there 
a  local  society  consisting  of  a  handful  of  zealous,  but  wrong- 
headed  men  and  women  of  the  class  more  recently  known 
as  strong-minded.  They  met  in  obscure  apartments,  and 
attracted  scarcely  any  public  attention;  or  if  brought  to 
notice  by  accident,  were  the  objects  of  only  popular  ridi 
cule  and  contempt.  The  general  public  mind  was  entirely 
settled  in  regard  to  the  uselessness,  as  well  as  the  unlaw 
fulness  of  interference  with  slavery  in  the  States,  hence  no 
mode  of  action  was  left  to  the  abolitionists,  except  by  oc 
casional  memorials  to  Congress  upon  indirect  points  af 
fecting  the  question,  or  through  their  few  unregarded  pub 
lications  which  were  read  by  nobody  but  themselves." 

GEORGE  LUNT,  Appendix,  p.  31 : 

"Later,  Mr.  Garrison,  a  leader  among  the  abolitionists, 
was  let  down  by  a  back  window,  and  attempted  to  conceal 
himself,  but  was  hunted  down  by  a  mob,  rescued  from  the 
hands  of  officers  of  the  law  and  placed  in  the  common  prison. 
He  said,  'Never  before  was  a  man  so  glad  to  get  into  a 
jail.'" 

GEORGE  LUNT  says  (pp.  328,  330) : 

"So  intense  was  the  feeling  on  the  part  of  such  abolition 
ists  as  John  Brown,  that  one  of  them  actually  presented 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  a  plan  'to  teach  the  slaves 
to  burn  their  masters'  buildings,  to  kill  all  of  their  cattle, 
and  hogs,  and  to  conceal  all  farming  utensils  and  abandon 
labor  in  seedtime  and  harvest  so  that  all  crops  should  per 
ish,  '  and  he  goes  on  to  say,  '  such  open  and  armed  aggression 
on  the  part  of  John  Brown  betokened  predetermined  en 
mity  in  one  part  of  the  Union  against  another  part;  an 
overt  act  of  hostility  towards  the  government,  in  the  peace 
of  which  only  could  the  Union  stand  secure,  and  it  was  un 
doubtedly  the  signal  and  forerunner  of  war.'  ' 

The  picture  of  John  Brown  on  the  way  to  execution,  now 
hanging  on  the  walls  of  the  Metropolitan  Art  Gallery  in  New 
York,  representing  a  negro  woman  holding  her  baby  to  be  kiss 
ed  by  him  is  false  to  history.  The  physician  attending  him  tes- 


102  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

tified  there  was  not  a  negro  to  be  seen  on  the  streets  of  Harper's 

Ferry  that  day. 

BARNES'  "Popular  History/'  p.  478: 

"On  the  way  to  the  gallows,  he  stopped  to  kiss  a  little 
slave  child." 

The  John  Brown  Raid  and  his  attempt  to  rouse  the  negroes  of 
the  South  to  murder,  insurrection  and  arson  was  punished  by 
the  death  of  John  Brown  and  his  accomplices  by  the  State  of 
Virginia  and  Congress  said  not  a  word,  and  the  testimony  of 
sane  men  at  the  North  condemned  the  fanaticism  of  the  insane. 
The  South  felt  that  the  North  was  encouraging  an  interference 
with  their  slave  affairs. 

EDWARD  EVERETT,  in  Fanueil  Hall,  said: 

"John  Brown's  Raid  was  designed  to  let  loose  the  hell 
hounds  of  a  servile  insurrection,  and  to  bring  on  a  struggle 
which  for  magnitude,  atrocity  and  horror,  would  have  stood 
alone  in  the  history  of  the  world." 

JUDGE  BLACK,  of  Pennsylvania,  said: 

"The  abolitionists  applauded  John  Brown  to  the  echo 
for  a  series  of  the  basest  murders  on  record." 

The  South  never  could  understand  how  Emerson  should  say 
of  one  they  regarded  'as  a  horse  thief,  a  murderer,  an  advocate 
of  insurrection,  that  his  body  was  "as  glorious  as  the  Cross  of 
Christ." 
ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART: 

"His  courage  impressed  even  his  jailers;  and  the  aboli 
tionists  and  many  others  saw  something  heroic  in  a  man 
thus  risking  his  life  for  the  lowly. ' ' 

Call  Brown  An  Assassin. 

Kansas  Legislators  Bitterly  Assailed  Osawatomie  Man. 

"Topeka,  March  4. — J.  W.  Brown,  representative  from 
Butler  County,  set  the  Kansas  House  by  the  ears  today  by 
an  attack  on  John  Brown,  when  the  bill  appropriating 
$2,800  to  preserve  the  John  Brown  cabin  at  Osawatomie 
and  keep  up  the  park  surrounding  it  came  up  for  passage. 

"The  bill  was  passed  by  the  Senate  several  days  ago  and 
was  up  for  final  passage  in  the  House.  The  bill  was  passed 
by  a  good  vote,  the  Democrats  generally  voting  against  it. 
When  Brown,  who  is  a  Democrat,  was  called,  he  voted 
'no'  and  offered  the  following  explanation  of  his  vote: 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  103 

"  'If  John  Brown  had  consummated  his  insurrection 
started  at  Harper's  Ferry  I  probably  would  have  died  in 
my  youth.  John  Brown  was  never  in  a  proper  sense  a  res 
ident  of  Kansas,  nor  was  he  'Osawatomie  Brown.'  That 
appellation  in  early  years  having  been  applied  to  0.  C. 
Brown,  who  founded  the  town  of  Osawatomie  and  gave  it 
its  name.  He  never  engaged  in  any  legitimate  business  or 
employment  while  here,  nor  did  he  aid  any  way  in  the  im 
provement  or  development  of  the  country.  With  the  in 
stincts  of  an  anarchist  and  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  his  ca 
reer  in  Kansas  was  one  of  lawlessness  and  crime — the  one 
indelible  blot  on  the  otherwise  fair  free  State  record.  No 
Kansan  desires  to  appropriate  money  to  perpetuate  the 
name  of  a  Booth,  -a  Guiteau  or  a  Czolgosz.  Neither  will  I 
consent  to  exalt  the  name  of  the  first  anarchist  and  rebel 
this  country  produced.'  : 

J.  J.  Veath,  of  Washington  County,  a  Republican,  also  took 
a  slap  at  the  Kansas  hero.  He  voted  against  the  bill  and  offered 
the  following  explanation  of  his  vote : 

"I  am  a  Republican  and  I  was  a  soldier  for  four  years 
in  the  Union  Army.  I  admire  a  brave  man  who  with  sword 
in  hand  will  lead  his  men  through  shot  and  shell  to  the 
cannon's  mouth  but  I  despise  a  sneak  and  a  bushwhacker. 

"John  Brown  allowed  his  men  to  sharpen  their  swords 
and  kill  five  unarmed  men  by  cutting  them  to  pieces  in  the 
presence  of  their  wives  and  children,  and  therefore  he  was 
guilty  of  murder. 

"I  will  not  by  my  vote  appropriate  a  single  dollar  to 
honor  the  memory  of  a  man  whom  I  believe  a  murderer. 
I  therefore  vote  'no.'  : 

As  soon  as  the  roll  call  was  completed,  Davis  of  Kiowa,  moved 
that  the  attacks  be  expunged  from  the  record,  but  the  motion 
failed  and  the  attacks  stand. 

(See  also  John  Brown,  of  Qssawatomie,  by  Hill  Peebles  Wil 
son,  edition  of  1913). 


104  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

WHY  THE  SOUTH  DEMANDS  CORRECTED  TEXT 

BOOKS: 

FIRST : 

Because  history  as  now  written  will  condemn  the  South 
to  infamy. 
SECOND  : 

Because  the  reference*  books  now  in  the  public  libraries 
will  condemn  the  South  to  infamy. 

THIRD: 

As  long  as  these  falsehoods  remain  within  reach  of  the 
student  all  teaching  to  the  contrary  will  be  in  vain. 
FOURTH  : 

Because  the  omissions  now  in  history  do  the  South  greater 
injustice  than  the  commissions  of  history.  (See  pp.  112, 
113). 


THE  SOUTH  AS  REPRESENTED  IN  HISTORY  AND 

LITERATURE  TODAY. 
DAVIDSON'S  History  says: 

"The  Jamestown  Colonists  were  vicious  idlers  and  jail 
birds  picked  up  on  the  streets  of  London. 

1 '  Side  by  side  the  two  civilizations  had  grown  up  in  Amer 
ica — the  one  dedicated  to  progress  had  kept  up  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age — the  other  a  landed  aristocracy  with 
slavery  as  the  chief  excuse  for  its  existence. " 

MONTGOMERY'S  History  says: 

"Georgia  was  settled  by  filthy,  ragged,  dirty  prisoners 
taken  from  the  "Debtors  Prison"  by  Oglethorpe." 

THE  BRITISH  ENCYCLOPEDIA  says: 

"North  Carolina  was  a  refuge  for  the  lawless  and  ad 
venturous.  ' ' 

' '  The  immigration  to  Virginia  consisted  of  boys  and  girls 
seized  in  the  streets  of  London  and  shipped  as  felons. " 

New    Twentieth    Century    Edition    of    ENCYCLOPEDIA    BRITAN- 
NICA,  page  360,  American  Literature: 

"Like  the  Spartan  marshaling  his  helots,  the  Southern 
planter  lounging  among  his  slaves  was  made  dead  to  art  by 
a  paralyzing  sense  known  as  his  own  superiority." 

"In  the  world  of  letters,  at  least,  the  Southern  States 
shone  by  reflected  light." 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  105 

''Since  the  Revolution  the  few  thinkers  born  South  of 
Mason  and  Dixon  line — outnumbered  by  those  belonging 
to  the  single  State  of  Massachusetts — have  migrated  to  New 
York  or  Boston  for  a  university  training." 

1 1  If  the  negroes  were  good  for  food,  the  probability  is  that 
the  power  of  destroying  their  lives  would  be  enjoyed  by 
their  Southern  owners  as  fully  as  it  is  over  the  lives  of 
their  cattle. 

1 '  Negroes  are  looked  on  only  as  brutes !  They  are  fed  or 
kept  hungry ;  clothed  or  kept  naked,  beaten  and  turned  out 
to  the  fury  of  the  elements,  with  as  little  remorse  as  if  they 
were  beasts  of  the  field." — Pelham  Papers. 

LODGE'S  "History  of  the  Early  Colonies": 

' l  The  life  of  the  Southern  women  was  very  monotonous — 
they  had  few  advantages,  and  were  unequal  to  any  refined 
conversation.  They  were  fond  of  dancing  but  showed  great 
want  of  taste  or  elegance  and  seldom  appeared  with  grace. - 
At  the  close  of  the  evening  it  was  their  custom  to  dance 
jigs  which  custom  they  borrowed  from  the  negroes." 

"Family  Life  in  Virginia/'  p.  344: 

"A  girl  of  good  fortune  or  of  good  reputation  is  a  thing 
scarce  in  these  parts — for  they  have  no  established  laws  and 
very  little  of  the  Gospel. ' ' 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE'S  "History  of  the  Early  Colonies/'  p.  154: 
"The  negroes  in  South  Carolina  were  helplessly  degrad 
ed,  rarely  baptized  or  married,  lived  like   animals,   their 
condition   of  complete  barbarism — the   slaves   were   griev 
ously  overworked." 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE'S  "History  of  the  Early  Colonies'': 

"The  Southern  man  on  his  plantation  drinks  a  julep 
made  of  rum,  water  and  sugar,  very  strong;  rides  over  his 
plantation,  returns  and  takes  his  toddy,  lies  down  to  sleep 
with  two  negroes  to  fan  him,  one  at  his  head  and  one  at 
his  feet;  rises  for  dinner,  takes  his  toddy  again  and  con 
tinues  to  take  his  toddy  all  afternoon,  then  eats  his  supper 
and  retires  for  the  night." 

RICHARD  HILDRETH: 

"The  typical  Southern  planter  is  a  tall,  raw-boned  in 
dividual,  clad  in  a  black  frock  coat,  with  his  trousers 
tucked  into  high-top  boots.  On  his  head  is  a  wide  brim 
med  slouch  hat,  and  his  heels  are  adorned  with  large  row- 
elled  spurs.  He  wears  a  turn-down  collar  and  a  flowing 
black  tie.  His  hair  is  long  and  his  beard  is  worn  as  a 
goatee.  He  carries  a  whip  in  his  right  hand  and  is  accom- 


106  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

panied  by  a  dog  supposed  to  be  fresh  from  the  chase  of  a 

runaway  slave. " 

Read  in  striking  contrast  Bill  Arp  's  description  of  a  Southern 
gentleman,  and  Thomas  Nelson  Page's  "The  Gentleman  of  the 
Black  Stock." 
"Smart  Set/'  New  York,  February,  1920: 

"The   Southern  people  know  nothing  of  music  or  the 

drama,  and  view  a  public  library  merely  as  something  to 

be    vigorously    censored.      Lynching    is    the    only    public 

amusement  that  they  never  denounce." 

MEANS  OF  ENFORCING  THE  MASTER'S  EMPIRE. 
HILDRETH'S  "Despotism  in  America,"  p.  41: 

The  slave  late  in  coming  from  the  field — receives  twenty 
lashes. 

"The  slave  that  is  idle — thirty  lashes. 
"The  slave  that  disobeys — forty  lashes. 
"The  slave  that  destroys  property — fifty  lashes. 
"The  slave  that  lies — sixty  lashes. 
"The  slave  that  is  suspected  of  theft — seventy  lashes. 
"The  slave  that  is  insolent — eighty  lashes. 
"The  slave  that  is  insubordinate — one  hundred  lashes. 
"If  he  ventures  to  run  away  he  is  pursued  by  men  and 
dogs,  disabled  by  small  shot,  and  as  soon  as  he  is  caught,  he 
is  flogged  till  he  faints,  then  worked  in  chains,  locked  up 
every  night,  and  kept  on  half  allowance,  till  his  spirits  are 
broken,  and  he  becomes  contented  and  obedient.     Should 
he  offer  resistance  he  is  either  shot  , stabbed,  beat  to  the 
ground  with  a  club,  and  if  not  killed  he  is  subjected  to  all 
sorts  of  discipline  and  flogged  every  night  for  thirty  days 
in  succession.     This  is  a  specimen  of  discipline  in  planta 
tion  management. ' ' 

This  book  from  which  these  extracts  are  taken  is  in  one  of 
the  leading  libraries  in  the  State  of  Georgia.    The  effect  it  has 
had,  possibly,  on  many  of  Georgia's  boys  is  to  make  them  rank 
abolitionists  ? 
RICHARD  HILDRETH,  "Despotism  in  America,"  p.  45: 

"The  Bible  has  been  proscribed  at  the  South,  as  an  in 
cendiary  publication;  a  book  not  fit  for  slaves  to  read  or 
hear.  In  some  parts  of  the  country  the  catechism  is  looked 
upon  with  almost  equal  suspicion ;  and  many  masters  for 
bid  their  slaves  to  hear  any  preacher,  black  or  white,  since 
they  consider  religion  upon  the  plantation  as  quite  out  of 
place,  a  thing  dangerous  to  the  master's  authority,  and 
therefore  not  to  be  endured  in  the  slave." 


THE    TRUTHS    OP    HISTORY  107 

RICHARD  HILDRETH,  "Despotism  in  America/'  p.  71: 

''The  slaves  are  regarded  not  merely  as  animals,  but  as 
animals  of  the  wildest  and  most  ferocious  character.  They 
are  thought  to  be  like  tigers,  trained  to  draw  the  plough, 
whom  nothing  but  fear,  the  whip,  and  constant  watchful 
ness,  keep  at  all  in  subjection,  and  who  if  left  to  themselves 
would  quickly  recover  their  savage  natures,  and  find  no  en 
joyment  except  to  reek  in  blood." 

LODGE'S  "History  of  ike  Early  Colonies": 

"The  strength  of  Virginia  really  resided  in  the  Puritan 
blood  which  was  in  their  midst. 

' '  For  a  century  Virginia  lay  in  a  state  of  torpor. 

"Aversion  to  towns  was  very  great,  but  due  to  indolence, 
jealousy,  and  selfishness. 

"Neither  arts  nor  letters  nourished.  Every  man  taught 
his  own  children  according  to  his  ability. 

"Intellectual  amusements  were  wanting  in  Maryland. 
Education  had  never  been  an  object  of  interest. 

"The  slaves  of  the  South  were  not  allowed  to  have  a  dog. 
They  were  coarsely  clothed  and  fed  upon  meal  and  water 
sweetened  with  molasses  and  even  punished  with  barbarity. ' ' 

"The  planters  looked  upon  themselves  as  different  clay 
from  the  rest  of  the  community;  they  had  the  virtues  and 
vices  of  an  aristocracy.  They  were  neither  enterprising 
nor  inventive." 

In  history  the  slaveholder  of  the  South  has  been  so  maligned 
because  he  separated  the  mother  and  child  on  the  block.  This 
contrast  is  striking. 

Taken  from  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  Vol. 
IV.,  p.  200,  is  an  advertisement  that  appeared  in  The  Continen 
tal  Journal,  Boston,  Mass.,  March  1,  1781 : 

"4^  likely  negro  wench  19  years  old  with  a  child  six 
months  of  age  to  be  sold  together  or  apart." 

Then  a  notice  that  appeared  in  a  newspaper  in  New  Orleans 
at  a  later  date: 
"The  Cyclopedia  of  Political  Slavery/'  Vol.  III.,  p.  733: 

"Mr.  Hunter  was  fined  $1,000  for  separating  a  mother 
and  child,  and  compelled  to  forfeit  by  the  Louisiana  law 
six  of  his  slaves." 

LODGE'S  History: 

"  If  a  Bible  should  be  left  in  a  negro  cabin,  the  colporteur 
would  be  ushered  to  Heaven  from  the  lowest  limb  of  a  tree 
on  the  nearest  hill." 


108  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

"Unless  the  white  race  amalgamate  with  the  black,  the 
white  will  wither  from  the  face  of  the  earth." 
When  war  was  threatened  in  1861  it  was  said : 

"There  can  be  no  war  for  the  cowards  of  the  South 
would  run  at  the  sight  of  brave  soldiers  from  New  Eng 
land/' 
An  Ohio  Suffragist  said: 

"In  the  cotton  mills  of  Georgia  they  work  little  children 
from  four  years  up,  sending  them  to  and  from  the  mills 
by  rail  in  an  old  box  car  huddled  like  so  many  pigs.  "When 
the  cotton  season  is  over,  they  are  taken  to  New  Jersey  and 
worked  in  the  cranberry  fields." 

"The  Evening  Sun,"  Baltimore,  Md.,  Nov.  17,  1919: 

"No  really  first  rate  woman  or  man,  in  any  field  of  en 
deavor  lives  in  Georgia  or  has  ever  lived  there.  The  State 
has  never  produced  a  statesman,  a  politician,  a  philosopher, 
a  writer,  an  artist,  or  any  one  who  has  ever  achieved  fame. 
No  .civilized  men  and  women  anywhere;  the  State  is  ut 
terly  without  value." 

LOSSING'S  "History  Concerning  Robert  E.  Lee,"  Vol.  V.,  Chap. 
116,  p.  1483: 

"The  Confederates  gained  much  strength  by  the  defec 
tion  of  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee  of  the  National  Army,  who 
espoused  their  cause.  He  lingered  in  Washington  City  for 
a  week  after  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter;  and  when  he 
had  drawn  from  General  Scott  (who  had  the  most  implicit 
confidence  in  Lee's  honor)  all  information  possible  con 
cerning  the  plans,  and  resources  of  the  government  to  be 
employed  in  suppressing  the  rebellion,  he  resigned  his  com 
mission  (April  20,  1861),  deserted  his  flag,  went  to  Rich 
mond,  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  military 
forces  of  Virginia  and  made  war  upon  the  government  he 
had  solemnly  sworn  to  support  and  defend.  He  gave  to 
its  enemies  the  advantages  of  his  knowledge  of  the  govern 
ment  secrets,  and  his  skill  as  an  engineer.  He  had  kept  up 
a  correspondence  with  those  enemies  while  professing  to  be 
loyal  to  his  government;  and  when  that  enemy  offered  him 
an  exalted  position,  he  joined  them  and  worked  faithfully 
for  them." 
"The  Official  History  of  Suffrage"  says: 

"General  Lee  drove  his  daughter,  Anne  Carter,  from 
Arlington  as  an  outcast,  because  she  remained  true  to  the 
Union.  Anne  died  the  third  year  of  the  war  homeless,  with 
no  relative  near,  dependent  for  care  and  nursing  and  con- 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  109 

solation  in  her  last  hours  upon  the  kindly  services  of  an  old 
colored  woman." 

"The  speech  of  John  Brown  at  Charlestown  and  the 
speech  of  Abraham  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg  are  the  two  best 
specimens  of  eloquence  which  we  have  had  in  this  country. ' ' 

"Boys  of  '61,"  Coffin,  p.  446: 

"That  secession  was  inaugurated  without  cause  must 
ever  be  the  verdict  of  history. " 

"I  called  upon  some  of  my  female  friends.  I  knew  they 
were  secessionists,  but  did  not  think  they  were  so  utterly 
corrupt  as  I  find  them  to  be."  (p.  29). 

"The  slaves  were  the  true,  loyal  men  of  the  South.  They 
did  what  they  could  to  put  down  the  Rebellion."  (p.  518). 

"Mason,  the  lordly  senator,  and  Governor  Letcher,  the 
drunken  executive  of  the  State  (Virginia),  addressed  the 
crowd  fired  to  a  burning  heat  of  madness  by  passion  and 
whiskey."  (p.  520). 

"Twelve  thousand,  nine  hundred  and  ninety  graves  are 
numbered  on  the  neighboring  hillside,  murdered  by  Jeff 
Davis,  Robert  E.  Lee,  James  Seddon,  John  C.  Brecken- 
ridge — murdered  with  premeditated  design."     (p.  411). 
In  J.  G.  HOLLAND'S  "Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln/'  is  found  on 
page  293 : 

"The  rebellion  was  conceived  in  perjury,  brought  forth 
in  violence,  cradled  in  ignorance,  and  reared  upon  spoils. 
It  never  had  an  apology  for  its  existence  that  will  be  enter 
tained  for  a  moment  at  the  bar  of  history.  It  was  never 
anything  from  its  birth  to  its  death  but  a  crime— a  crime 
against  Christianity,  a  crime  against  patriotism,  a  crime 
against  civilization,  a  crime  against  progress,  a  crime  against 
personal  and  political  honor,  a  crime  against  the  people  of 
the  North  who  had  to  put  it  down,  a  crime  against  God  to 
whom  they  blasphemously  appealed  for  aid. ' ' 

J.  G.  HOLLAND  again  says : 

"The  South  was  prepared  for  war — nearly  all  Southern 
forts  had  been  seized.  The  Northern  arsenals  had  been  rob 
bed  by  that  miscreant,  Ployd.  The  South  refused  to  pay 
the  debts  due  the  North.  The  mails  were  ransacked  so  that 
the  government  could  reach  neither  friends  nor  foes.  She 
had  been  drilling  men  and  instructing  officers  for  years. 
They  knew  there  were  not  arms  enough  in  the  North  to  over 
come  them.  Maryland,  a  slaveholding  State,  had  one  out 
of  five  for  rebellion." 

"The  British  Weekly'': 

"In  the  American  Civil  War  the  Southern  Confederate 


110  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

women  wore  personal  ornaments  made  of  the  bones  of  their 
unburied  foes.  They  starved  their  prisoners  and  took  their 
scalps  for  trophies. ' ' 

James  Russell  Lowell  was  given  as  authority  for  this  state 
ment. 
MR.  JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  also  said : 

"I  do  not  find  that  the  cuticular  aristocracy  of  the  South 
has  added  anything  to  the  requirements  of  civilization  ex 
cept  the  carrying  of  bowie  knives  and  the  chewing  of  to 
bacco — a  high-toned  Southern  gentleman  being  commonly 
not  only  quad-rumanous  but  quid-ruminant. " 

MUZZEY'S  "History  of  the  American  People"  says: 

"The  cause  for  which  the  Confederate  soldier  fought  was 
an  unworthy  cause  and  should  have  been  defeated." 

"It  is  impossible  for  the  student  of  history  today  to  feel 
otherwise  than  that  the  cause  for  which  the  South  fought 
was  unworthy." 

"The  Confederacy  was  now  placed  before  the  civilized 
world  in  its  true  light  as  the  champion  of  the  detested  in 
stitution  of  slavery." — Davidson. 

THE  "Chicago  Tribune"  says: 

The  South  is  half  educated,  a  region  of  illiteracy,  blatant 
self -righteousness,  cruelty  and  violence." 

CHAMPION'S  "War  of  the  Union/'  p.  316 : 

"A  sort  of  poetic  justice  impelled  the  Federals  to  send 
a  brigade  of  colored  troops  to  take  possession  of  Richmond." 

WILLIAM  &  MARY  "Quarterly/'  Oct.  1918,  pp.  82,  83: 

"  *  Necessity  knows  no  law/  and  'to  save  the  lives  of  the 
gallant  men  who  had  so  long  held  Fort  Sumter  against  an 
overwhelming  force  of  heartless  traitors  and  wicked  and 
unprincipled  rebels  whose  treason  has  been  steeped  in  fraud 
and  theft  vulgarly  known  as  f  Southern  Chivalry/  the  Pres 
ident  of  the  United  States  (Abraham  Lincoln)  in  the  dis 
charge  of  a  duty  to  humanity  has  signed  the  order  for  the 
evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter." 

The  Librarian  in  Pueblo,   Colorado,  said  that  "The  Clans 
man/'  by  Thomas  Dixon,  was  too  indecent  to  be  read,  so  ordered 
all  books  by  Dixon  to  be  taken  out  of  the  Library  and  extra 
copies  of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  placed  there. 
"The  New  York  World/'  Dec.  1919: 

"The  next  President  will  be  a  Republican,  with  a  Re 
publican  House  and  Senate,  and  the  Southern  State*  will 


THB    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  111 

be  mere  provinces.  Had  it  not  been  for  Northern  Demo 
crats  the  Southern  States  would  as  yet  be  as  conquered 
provinces  without  influence  at  Washington." 


XIX. 

The  Villification  of  Jefferson  Davis  Was  Necessary  to  Make 
the  Glorification  of  Abraham  Lincoln  More  Effective. 

AUTHORITY: 
"Harper's  Weekly/'  June,  1865: 

"The  murder  of  President  Lincoln  furnished  the  final 
proof  of  the  ghastly  spirit  of  the  rebellion.  Davis  inspired 
the  murder  of  Lincoln. ' ' 

CHENEY'S  "History  of  the  Civil  War/'  p.  359: 

"Poor  Jeff  Davis  began  to  feel  like  a  wandering  Jew — a 
price  was  put  on  his  head.  He  dared  rest  nowhere  for  fear 
of  meeting  the  fate  of  a  traitor — afraid  to  risk  an  inter 
view  with  Sherman  and  not  daring  to  wait  for  Johnston's 
surrender,  he  fled  to  Charlotte." 

"New  York  Tribune/'  1861: 

"The  hanging  of  traitors  is  sure  to  begin  before  the 
month  is  over.  The  nations  of  Europe  may  rest  assured 
that  Jeff  Davis  will  be  swinging  from  the  battlements  of 
"Washington  at  least  by  the  Fourth  of  July.  We  spit  upon 
a  later  and  longer  deferred  justice." 

"The  Story  of  a  Great  March/'  Major  George  W.  Nichols: 

"The  failure  of  Jeff  Davis  has  brought  down  on  him  the 
hatred  and  abuse  of  his  own  people.  Were  he  here  today 
nothing  but  execration  would  have  been  showered  uon  him." 

"Harper's  Weekly/'  June  17,  1865: 

"Davis  is  as  guilty  of  Lincoln's  murder  as  Booth.  Davis 
was  conspicuous  for  every  extreme  of  ferocity,  inhumanity 
and  malignity.  He  was  responsible  for  untold  and  unim 
aginable  cruelties  practiced  on  loyal  citizens  in  the  South." 

THADDEUS  STEVENS,  House  of  Congress,  March  19,  1867: 

"While  I  would  not  be  bloody-minded,  yet  if  I  had  my 
way  I  \vould  long  ago  have  organized  a  military  tribunal 
under  military  power  and  I  would  have  put  Jefferson  Davis 
and  all  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  on  trial  for  the  mur 
ders  at  Andersonville.  Jefferson  Davis  murdered  a 
thousand  men,  robbed  a  thousand  widows  and  orphans,  and 
burned  down  a  thousand  homes." 


112  THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY 

"Harper's  Weekly": 

"If  it  seems  too  incredible  to  be  true  that  rebel  leaders 
were  guilty  of  Lincoln's  assassination,  it  must  be  remem 
bered  that  Lincoln's  murder  is  no  more  atrocious  than 
many  crimes  of  which  Davis  is  notoriously  guilty." 

JOHN  FORNEY,  Clerk  of  the  Senate — Washington  Chronicle: 

"The  judiciary  has  ample  evidence  of  Davis'  guilt  of 
Lincoln's  murder,  and  of  the  murder  of  our  soldiers  in 
prison. ' ' 

BOUTWELL,  of  Massachusetts,  introduced  the  following  resolu 
tion  in  Congress: 

"Be  it  Resolved,  That  Jefferson  Davis  shall  be  held  and 
tried  on  the  charge  of  killing  prisoners  and  murdering 
Abraham  Lincoln." 

"Jefferson  Davis  wrote  a  history  of  the  struggle  but  it 
was  full  of  prejudice." 

CHENEY'S  "History,"  p.  539: 

"Davis  had  in  his  possession  $100,000  in  gold  belonging 
to  the  Confederate  Government." 

' '  He  was  arrested  near  Macon  disguised  as  a  woman,  with 
a  shawl  over  his  head  and  carrying  a  tin  pail. ' ' 


XX. 
Some  of  the  Omissions  of  History. 

"At  the  First  Battle  of  Bull  Eun  raw,  untrained  Union 
soldiers  were  defeated  by  well-trained  Confederate  soldiers. 
Congress,  however,  and  the  President  were  only  nerved  by 
this  defeat  to  prepare  for  a  bigger  war." 
What  should  have  been  there  was  what  an  eye  witness — the 
War  Correspondent,  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman — saw  and  put 
in  the  columns  of  "The  New  York  World": 

"I  was  with  the  brave  Captain  Alexander  when  the  sud 
den  reverse  came.  'What  does  it  all  mean?'  I  asked. 

"  'It  means  defeat,'  was  his  reply.  'We  are  beaten.  It 
is  a  shameful,  cowardly  retreat.' 

"  'Hold  up,  men!'  he  shouted.  'Don't  be  such  cowards,' 
but  on  they  rushed. 

"I  saw  officers  with  leaves  and  eagles  on  their  shoulder 
straps,  majors  and  colonels  who  had  deserted  their  com 
mands,  galloping  as  for  dear  life. 

"What  a  scene!  How  terriffic  the  onset  of  that  tumul- 
tous  retreat!  Who  ever  saw  such  a  flight?  Who  ever  saw 
a  more  shameful  abandonment  of  munitions  gathered  at 


THE    TRUTHS    OF    HISTORY  113 

such  vast  expense  ?  Thousands  of  muskets  strewed  the 
route.  The  regular  cavalry — I  say  it  to  their  shame — join 
ed  in  the  melee  -adding  to  its  terrors — for  they  rode  down 
footmen  without  mercy.  Enough  supplies  wrere  captured 
for  a  week's  feast  of  thanksgiving.  The  rout  of  the  Fed 
eral  Army  was  complete." — "Great  Epochs  of  American 
History/'  Vol.  VIII. 

Another  omission  of  hixlory  is  the  description  of  the  M<  rri- 
mac  (Virginia)  and  the  Monitor. 

History  records  "an  indecisive  victory  between  the  Monitor 
and  Virginia.  The  Virginia  finally  withdrew  up  the  Elizabeth 
River." 

The  following  is  the  truth  given  by  those  on  the  Virginia  and 
corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  the  English  and  French  men- 
of-war  anchored  at  Hampton  Roads : 

"It  was  April  before  the  Merrimac  (Virginia)  had  com 
pleted  some  alterations,  then  she  steamed  down  to  Hampton 
Roads  under  Commodore  Tatnall  to  engage  and  capture  the 
Monitor.  She  was  afraid  to  go  too  close  to  shallow  water, 
but  three  times  she  dared  and  challenged  the  Monitor  to 
come  out  and  fight.  Not  even  the  capture  of  two  brigs  and 
a  schooner,  the  Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  hoisirig  of  the  Con 
federate  flags  on  these  captured  ships,  which  must  have 
been  a  humiliation  to  her,  would  tempt  the  Monitor  to 
move.  Had  she  taken  the  dare,  she  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  captured  and  she  knew  it." 

OTHER  OMISSIONS  OF  HISTORY: 

The  South  claims  that  her  best  writers  are  ruled  out  of  a  com 
pendium  of  American  Literature  and  those  not  literary  given 
prominence. 

LITERATURE : 

Siedman's  American  Literature  gives  fifty  pages  to  Walt 
Whitman  and  five  lines  to  Henry  Timrod. 

Richardson  gives  forty  pages  to  Fenimore  Cooper  and  four 
pages  to  William  Gilmore  Simms,  that  pioneer  of  romance. 

Pattee,  in  his  American  Lilcnifiirr,  gives  page  after  page  to 
E.  P.  Roe,  and  does  not  mention  James  Lane  Allen. 

Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  in  their  Masterpieces  of  Literature, 
give  O'Reilly's  prosaic  poem,  "Tlie  Puritans."  and  does  not 
mention  Poe's  "  Rarc-n." 

To  read   Northern   history  one   would    believe   that    Paul    Re- 


114  THE    TRUTHS    OF   HISTORY 

vere's  Ride  was  the  greatest  in  American  history.  It  does  not 
compare  to  John  Jouett's  ride  nor  Edward  Lacy's  ride,  nor 
Sam  Dale's  ride  and  surely  not  to  Wade  Hampton's  grand 
father's  ride  of  750  miles  in  ten  days  to  carry  the  news  of  An 
drew  Jackson's  victory  at  New  Orleans.  That  was  a  ride  of 
great  import  in  history  for  New  England  had  already  sent  her 
commissioner  to  say  she  would  secede  from  the  Union  to  join 
England,  but  when  she  heard  of  the  British  defeat  the  papers 
of  secession  were  not  presented. 


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